Williams, Treinen and Frandsen speak after loss in San Francisco

Blake Treinen has appeared in eight games this season. He's made four starts. He's pitched to a 2.08 ERA. He has yet to earn a win. Although the 25-year-old rookie did not have his best stuff today, he battled through five innings and worked his way out of some tough jams. At the end of the afternoon, he left the game after five innings of work, surrendering two runs while walking three and striking out two. "Blake did a great job. Even today when things weren't going right, he didn't cower through it, he battled through it and gave us the ground balls when we needed to," Kevin Frandsen said to reporters in San Francisco. "And I feel like, for a young guy, that shows us more than anything that he's not going to shy away from a little adversity that he had maybe been dealt. ... He kept us in the game." Unlike three of their last four games, the Nationals were unable to string together hits to support their starter. The Nats scattered seven hits but could only push across one run, which was unearned, in the fourth inning. The Nats eventually fell to the Giants, 7-1. "(Treinen) was fine, just a little bit all over the place," Matt Williams said. "We had some opportunities to get back in it in the middle innings but it didn't happen for us today. It's been happening pretty regular for us, so today was just good pitching on their part and made some plays and just couldn't climb back in." Treinen got in some trouble in the fourth, loading the bases on a single and two walks. However, he got a strikeout of Ehire Adrianza and then got pitcher Tim Hudson to ground into a double play to post a scoreless frame. "Just had trouble commanding my fastball today. Threw some good changeups in big situations and I'm just happy to get out of that mess of an inning I got us in," Treinen said. "I command my fastball a little better, maybe I go deeper ... like a starter should. I just have to execute pitches better and next time I'll be better at it. ... "I had confidence in (my changeup,) it's probably the best it's felt for a long time. My offspeed, I felt confident with today." In the end, Treinen was outdueled by veteran Hudson, who denied the Nationals the four-game sweep of the National League West-leading Giants. "He was keeping the ball down, and he was mixing up his pitches. Obviously, with Huddy, you know, the team lost three in a row, he's a guy that's gonna bulldog his way through," Frandsen said. "He's gonna compete, he's gonna make sure that his team has a chance to win and get things changed. He challenged, he made pitches when he needed to." When the Nats came to town, they knew they were facing a tough test in the Giants, who had the best record in the majors. They leave town with a series win, and they now head to St. Louis for a three-games series with the Cardinals. "It's gratifying to play as well as we did the first three," Williams said. "Today, it kind of unraveled on us, but three-out-of-four from these guys is pretty good. They've been playing well."