Matt Williams on Nationals' ugly 9-4 loss to Red Sox: "It's got to get better than that."

Washington shortstop Ian Desmond's fifth error in seven games. Two hit-by-pitches and two dropped pops on either side of center. A mental error on coverage in a dramatic shift so no one was covering third base when Mookie Betts stole second in the first inning, which allowed him to take third before scoring.

Nationals' starter Jordan Zimmermann out after just 2 ⅓ in which he gave up nine hits, eight runs, seven earned and a walk. A lopsided 9-4 final score at the end of the Boston Red Sox' home opener.

Just how bad was today's game?

"How bad was this game? About as bad as you can get," Matt Williams said.

"It's tough to win ballgames when you can't catch the baseball. So, it's got to get better than that."

It has to... right? Williams came across as frustrated in his post game interview and he had every right to be after what he watched on the field. He did, however, say that there was really nothing he needed to say to his team.

"There's no need," he said. "There's no need to say anything. Balls are up there for four or five seconds, they need to be caught. Ground balls are hit that need to be caught and thrown across the diamond. It's got to get better."

Desmond was the one who committed the throw error. Michael Taylor and Jayson Werth and then Taylor and Bryce Harper allowed pop flies to fall into the outfield grass in Fenway Park. Zimmermann was not sharp.

He struggled with his command, threw a lot of pitches, and was out of his second start of 2015 early, leaving it up to Tanner Roark to get the Nationals through the middle innings.

The Nationals' defense didn't help Zimmerman though, as Williams noted.

"It's not shocking to have a pitcher that doesn't have a good day," Williams said, "but if you don't help him, then it makes the day even worse. He had opportunities to get out of a couple innings there, and couldn't get out of them because we didn't catch the baseball. That being said, it'll get better. It's got to get better."

The same thing happened at the start last year, with the Nationals struggling on defense early. Is there any connection? Anything similar to what happened last time around?

Nationals vs Red Sox Series Preview

[Infographic by B Sheridan]

"Last year's over, man," Williams said. "Last year's way over. We've got to catch the ball tomorrow. And see if we can help Stephen [Strasburg] out. So, it's always a focus for us. It's always important to us. It will continue to be. And it's got to get better than that though."

Were the issues in the outfield an issue with Taylor, Werth or Harper being unfamiliar with the 102-year-old ballpark?

"I don't think so," Williams said. "Those balls that are hit are certainly catchable. So we'll speak about it. Again, it's important to our team to play good defense behind our pitching staff, as it is with any team. So we have to do a better job with that."

We talked about the Nationals' 9-4 loss to the Red Sox, the errors, Zimmermann's struggles and more on the latest edition of Nats Nightly with the District Sports Page's Dave Nichols and FBB's Doghouse: