Williams speaks after Nats' 3-2 win

MIAMI - The strong stretch of starting pitching continued tonight, and another victory came largely as a result.

Doug Fister allowed just two runs over 6 2/3 innings, turning in yet another quality start, and Adam LaRoche helped provide most of the offense with a towering two-run homer in the first inning to lead the Nationals to a 3-2 win over the Marlins.

Fister didn't have his best stuff tonight, but still managed to turn things over to the bullpen with a lead in a low-scoring affair. Matt Thornton got the final out of the seventh, Tyler Clippard worked a scoreless eighth and Drew Storen followed with a perfect ninth to close it out.

Here's manager Matt Williams after the win:

On how impressive the Nats' pitching has been lately: "Starters have been really, really good. The bullpen, it set up good for us tonight. We had to get Matt in a game. Doug could've certainly tried to finish that inning. ... As it turned out, Matt got to face two lefties, which is good. He hadn't been in there in five days. So it was important to get him in the game. And of course Clip and Drew have been pitching really well."

On there not being a "Yeah, baby" tonight when he went out to the mound to get the ball from Fister: "No 'Yeah, baby.' He wasn't real happy with me, but given where we're at and the fact that (Thornton) hadn't been in a game in five days, we had to get him in there. That's the spot for him."

On how important it is to have the pitching staff healthy at this point in the season: "It's gonna be really important for us. The guys work hard. They take their four days off really seriously and prepare for the next one. So far, they've been healthy. Doug had an issue coming out of spring, but other than that, he's been healthy as can be. They all have, really. In the remaining week or so, we're going to have to be cognizant of their pitch counts. But Doug was really good tonight."

On LaRoche performing well after getting time off: "I just think he's fresh when he gets a couple of days. We've seen it when he's been really tired, too, and had to get in the game. It's just a question of getting a pitch to hit. He's got power to his pull side if he gets a ball middle, middle in. He can do that. But the key for him, though, is the ball to left-center. When he's doing that, we know he's really on."

On what the 25-homer milestone LaRoche reached tonight means to a hitter: "Means a lot. Just means that you're playing. Rochie's gonna run into homers. But again, the key for him is getting that two-run single or whatever it is. That makes for a really good year. But 25 homers is a lot. He missed some time. So it's a good milestone for him."

On if he talked to Ryan Zimmerman, who rejoined the team today: "Yeah, I talked to him. He said he felt OK. Sore, body sore from playing. But he's glad to be here, and he feels like he's done everything. He's running at 85 percent or so, hasn't pushed it really past that, but that's doable on the basepaths. So we'll see what tomorrow brings."