Matt Williams hopes Jose Fernandez grows impatient at unfamiliar Nationals Park

Nationals had difficulty against Marlins right-hander Jose Fernandez in their last matchup, even though he only pitched five innings. Fernandez threw 69 pitches, 43 for strikes, and did not allow a run in the Marlins' 2-0 win over the Nationals on September 12 in Miami.

So manager Matt Williams believes the strategy tonight is to work the count against Fernandez.

"I want us to be patient because he's still a little bit on a pitch count," Williams said. "Coming out last time it was five innings. I would imagine that they aren't going to push him too far in this one, too. So we would like to elevate that pitch count. Have some battle at-bats early and push that a little bit in hopes of getting him out of there earlier than anticipated."

Fernandez gave up a base hit to Anthony Rendon and Bryce Harper and that was it. He walked Jayson Werth in the first as well, but that was it.

"Slider was good last time, fastball was good," Williams said. "Didn't show any signs of any fatigue or anything that anybody's been talking about. For us, it's about getting good ones to hit. Staying in the middle of the diamond, staying on the slider as much as we can and elevating that pitch count if we can do it."

Williams said the reason Fernandez is so good is he has command of four pitches.

"I think that his feel is really good," Williams said. "Ninety-seven mph with feel for the breaking ball for a strike. Two types of breaking balls: slider and curveball. He's able to throw the changeup as well. You have a power pitcher that has feel for all four pitches. That's difficult for anybody. Again, we try to see early what he's feeling, what he's got."

Williams wants to make Fernandez uncomfortable in the more friendly hitting Nationals Park, a place the young star has never pitched in prior. He is 3-0 with a 0.58 ERA in five career starts versus the Nationals in Miami. Williams said if they can get Fernandez to have trouble with locating at least one of his pitches, they have a shot at wearing him down as the game progresses.

"Hopefully, he'll be able to eliminate a pitch that he's not finding the strike zone with," Williams said. "Unfortunately, in their ballpark anyway, we haven't had the ability to see that because he's had feel for all of them. Hopefully, it's a different story now that he's not there. This is the first time we've seen him here. Hopefully, that's to our advantage.

"Being familiar and comfortable is important, and he's certainly comfortable in that ballpark there. Hopefully, a little bit more uncomfortable tonight for us and we can grind him a little bit early."