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Series Preview: Detroit Tigers (19-11) @ Washington Nationals (17-15)

If weather allows it, the Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers will start a two-game series tonight in Nationals Park with Jordan Zimmermann on the mound for the Nats against the Tigers' Anibal Sanchez. 7:05 pm EST tonight in the nation's capital.

By Jared Book
USA TODAY Sports

Back to the American League Central for the Nationals coming off a series win at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. This will be a huge battle for the pitching staff as the Tigers can hit and perhaps the positive is that they are not going to be facing a designated hitter but they are facing two of the hottest pitchers in the American League.

Probable Pitchers
Tuesday, 7:05 p.m.
WSH: Jordan Zimmermann (5-1, 1.64 ERA)
DET: Anibal Sanchez (3-2, 1.82 ERA)

Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.
WSH: Dan Haren (3-3, 5.01 ERA)
DET: Doug Fister (4-0, 2.48 ERA)

Usual Tigers American League Lineup (via MLB Depth Charts)
CF Austin Jackson
RF Torii Hunter
3B Miguel Cabrera
1B Prince Fielder
DH Victor Martinez
LF Andy Dirks
SS Jhonny Peralta
C Alex Avila
2B Omar Infante

BENCH
C Brayan Pena
IF Ramon Santiago
IF/OF Matt Tuiasosopo
OF/IF Don Kelly

BULLPEN
RHP Jose Valverde
RHP Joaquin Benoit
RHP Al Alburquerque
LHP Drew Smyly
RHP Jose Ortega
RHP Luke Putkonen
LHP Darin Downs

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
Bryce Harper 31 109 20 34 6 1 9 18 16 20 1 2 .312 .400 .633
Ian Desmond 32 124 15 35 11 2 4 11 3 33 4 1 .282 .295 .500
Denard Span 29 115 10 32 4 1 0 11 12 19 5 1 .278 .346 .330
Wilson Ramos 10 36 4 10 2 0 2 6 3 3 0 1 .278 .333 .500
Jayson Werth 27 100 17 26 2 0 4 10 6 21 2 0 .260 .308 .400
Anthony Rendon 8 25 2 6 1 0 0 1 5 7 0 0 .240 .367 .280
Steve Lombardozzi 24 51 2 12 3 0 0 4 2 4 0 0 .235 .264 .294
Kurt Suzuki 22 64 6 15 4 1 2 7 9 10 1 0 .234 .333 .422
Ryan Zimmerman 18 63 8 14 2 2 1 11 10 18 1 0 .222 .333 .365
Gio Gonzalez 7 9 1 2 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 .222 .300 .556
Danny Espinosa 26 92 9 17 8 0 3 10 3 21 1 0 .185 .224 .370
Tyler Moore 18 39 4 7 4 0 1 8 2 18 0 0 .179 .214 .359
Adam LaRoche 29 95 10 16 3 0 3 9 14 32 1 0 .168 .273 .295
Dan Haren 6 12 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 5 0 0 .167 .167 .250
Jhonatan Solano 3 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .167 .167 .167
Stephen Strasburg 7 13 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 .154 .154 .231
Chad Tracy 18 33 0 5 0 0 0 2 3 11 0 1 .152 .222 .152
Roger Bernadina 19 29 3 3 0 0 0 1 1 11 0 0 .103 .161 .103
Jordan Zimmermann 6 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 .071 .071 .071
Ross Detwiler 6 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 10 0 0 .000 .083 .000
Craig Stammen 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Drew Storen 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Ryan Mattheus 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Tyler Clippard 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Rafael Soriano 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Henry Rodriguez 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Zach Duke 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000

Pitching

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
Jordan Zimmermann 5-1 6 6 2 1 0 0 44.0 26 8 8 2 7 27 1.64 .75
Craig Stammen 2-1 9 0 0 0 0 1 14.2 11 4 4 1 4 17 2.45 1.02
Ross Detwiler 1-3 6 6 0 0 0 0 36.0 42 12 10 3 8 21 2.50 1.39
Rafael Soriano 0-0 14 0 0 0 10 1 14.0 10 4 4 2 3 12 2.57 .93
Ryan Mattheus 0-0 10 0 0 0 0 1 12.0 14 4 4 0 3 10 3.00 1.42
Stephen Strasburg 1-4 7 7 0 0 0 0 44.1 38 21 17 5 13 44 3.45 1.15
Tyler Clippard 2-1 13 0 0 0 0 0 12.1 6 5 5 1 8 11 3.65 1.14
Henry Rodriguez 0-0 10 0 0 0 0 0 9.2 5 4 4 1 9 7 3.72 1.45
Drew Storen 0-0 11 0 0 0 0 1 11.1 15 8 6 2 1 12 4.76 1.41
Gio Gonzalez 3-2 7 7 0 0 0 0 38.0 31 21 21 5 20 41 4.97 1.34
Dan Haren 3-3 6 6 0 0 0 0 32.1 42 22 18 7 5 24 5.01 1.45
Zach Duke 0-0 8 0 0 0 0 0 14.1 18 12 10 2 4 10 6.28 1.53


Washington Nationals Injuries

Probable

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Jayson Werth hamstring 05/07/2013

15-Day

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Christian Garcia forearm 03/22/2013


NL East Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Atlanta 19 12 .612 0 Won 2
Washington 17 15 .531 2.5 Won 2
Philadelphia 15 18 .454 5 Won 1
New York 12 16 .428 5.5 Lost 1
Miami 10 23 .303 10 Lost 1

(updated 5.7.2013 at 12:27 PM EDT)


DETROIT TIGERS

Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG
Miguel Cabrera 30 122 26 47 8 1 6 36 17 16 1 0 .385 .465 .615
Torii Hunter 27 119 22 43 9 1 1 16 7 18 1 0 .361 .406 .479
Matt Tuiasosopo 20 34 4 11 2 0 1 8 5 10 0 0 .324 .410 .471
Prince Fielder 30 112 18 34 6 0 8 32 24 27 0 1 .304 .429 .571
Jhonny Peralta 28 114 10 34 6 0 2 16 8 27 1 1 .298 .339 .404
Omar Infante 26 104 16 31 3 1 3 11 5 9 1 0 .298 .327 .433
Austin Jackson 30 132 31 38 6 1 2 10 13 27 5 0 .288 .352 .394
Andy Dirks 24 74 10 18 1 1 2 7 11 13 3 0 .243 .337 .365
Victor Martinez 29 118 7 26 6 0 1 14 10 13 0 0 .220 .277 .297
Brayan Pena 9 38 3 8 1 0 1 4 1 6 0 0 .211 .231 .316
Alex Avila 22 83 10 16 1 0 4 6 8 27 0 0 .193 .264 .349
Don Kelly 20 37 6 7 2 1 0 1 4 7 1 0 .189 .286 .297
Ramon Santiago 10 26 1 4 1 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 .154 .185 .269
Max Scherzer 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Jose Ortega 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Rick Porcello 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Luke Putkonen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Brayan Villarreal 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Darin Downs 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Anibal Sanchez 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Phil Coke 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Al Alburquerque 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Drew Smyly 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Justin Verlander 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Joaquin Benoit 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Octavio Dotel 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Doug Fister 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Bruce Rondon 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Jose Valverde 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000

Pitching

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
Jose Ortega 0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.00 .00
Luke Putkonen 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0.00 .43
Jose Valverde 0-0 4 0 0 0 3 0 4.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 0.00 .25
Drew Smyly 2-0 10 0 0 0 1 1 20.0 12 3 3 0 5 21 1.35 .85
Justin Verlander 4-2 7 7 0 0 0 0 46.1 38 9 8 1 13 50 1.55 1.10
Anibal Sanchez 3-2 6 6 0 0 0 0 39.2 31 9 8 0 11 50 1.82 1.06
Joaquin Benoit 0-0 13 0 0 0 2 0 14.1 8 3 3 2 7 17 1.88 1.05
Al Alburquerque 0-0 13 0 0 0 0 0 13.0 10 3 3 0 10 23 2.08 1.54
Doug Fister 4-0 6 6 0 0 0 0 40.0 38 15 11 1 7 29 2.48 1.13
Darin Downs 0-0 11 0 0 0 0 0 13.1 10 4 4 2 4 18 2.70 1.05
Max Scherzer 4-0 6 6 0 0 0 0 39.1 32 16 15 3 9 54 3.43 1.04
Rick Porcello 1-2 6 5 0 0 0 0 26.1 33 22 22 5 5 15 7.52 1.44
Phil Coke 0-3 9 0 0 0 1 1 8.2 8 8 8 1 5 10 8.31 1.50
Bruce Rondon 0-0 3 0 0 0 0 1 2.1 5 3 3 0 2 1 11.57 3.00
Octavio Dotel 0-0 6 0 0 0 0 1 4.2 10 7 7 0 4 4 13.50 3.00
Brayan Villarreal 0-2 7 0 0 0 0 0 4.1 8 10 10 1 8 6 20.77 3.69


Detroit Tigers Injuries

15-Day

Player Injury Type Injury Date
Phil Coke groin 04/26/2013


AL Central Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Detroit 19 11 .633 0 Won 4
Kansas City 17 11 .607 1 Lost 1
Cleveland 15 14 .517 3.5 Won 1
Minnesota 13 15 .464 5 Lost 1
Chicago 13 17 .433 6 Won 1

(updated 5.7.2013 at 12:28 PM EDT)

TEMPERATURE CHECK (Last 7 Days)

Who's Hot

Miguel Cabrera (DET): 11/24 (.458/.552/.917), 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K
Prince Fielder (DET): 8/23 (.346/.483/.603), 2 HR, 7 RBI, 5 BB, 3 K
Adam LaRoche (WSH): 5/18 (.278/.440/.389), 2 2B, 1 RBI, 6 BB

Who's Cold

No Detroit regulars. Don Kelly and Brayan Pena both have two hits in their last 11 at bats.
Bryce Harper (WSH): 2/19 (.105/.227/.105), 3 BB, 5 K
Ian Desmond (WSH): 5/25 (.200/.192/.440), 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI

MATCHUPS TO WATCH

Harper vs Health

For the first time this season, Bryce Harper is in the Cold section. Most of this is due to his side injury. As it gets better, he should get his numbers - and power - back. He had an extended rest with his ejection and off day so we will see if Harper can once again lead this Nationals offense.

Dan Haren vs Miguel Cabrera

Miguel Cabrera is flirting with .400 and is on a blistering pace this season. However, he has not had success against Dan Haren. Cabrera is 3/16 (.188) against Haren and if Haren can shut down Cabrera, it would not only be a surprise to everyone who has watched Dan Haren this season, but to everyone watching Cabrera as well. Historically, this may be a good matchup for Haren but it will be interesting to see what happens. The man behind Cabrera, Prince Fielder is 3/5 against Haren with a walk which puts even more importance in shutting down Cabrera.

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