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Grapefruit League GameThread: Washington Nationals vs Detroit Tigers

Jordan Zimmermann and the Detroit Tigers are visiting Viera, Florida's Space Coast Stadium this afternoon for Grapefruit League action with the Washington Nationals. Stephen Strasburg vs Jordan Zimmermann on the mound at 1:05 PM EST.

By Patrick Reddington
Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Jordan Zimmermann talked to reporters in Detroit's Spring Training camp recently about facing his former team in his first start for the Tigers this afternoon in Viera, Florida's Space Coast Stadium, where they take on Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals at 1:05 PM EST.

"It’ll be fun," the 29-year-old right-hander told reporters, including Chris McClosky of The Detroit News.

"I am sure they’ll be up there hacking. It’ll be good to go over there and see those guys again and get them out for the first time."

"I am sure it will be fun to face Ryan [Zimmerman], Jayson Werth, Bryce [Harper], all those guys," Zimmermann said. "I don’t know who all will be in the lineup, but we’ll see."

Two of the three players Zimmermann mentioned are penciled into the lineup for this afternoon's matchup.

Harper is batting third and Werth is in the cleanup spot in what will be his 2016 Grapefruit League debut.

Strasburg will be on the mound for the Nationals in his first start of the Spring as he looks to build on what he did after he got over the ankle and back issues that threw his mechanics out of whack early last season.

What is new Nats' skipper Dusty Baker looking for from Strasburg and the Nationals' other starters the first time around in Spring Training? He was asked after Gio Gonzalez's 2016 debut yesterday.

"This is their first time, so I'm not really looking for anything," he said. "I'm just looking."

"These guys aren't in Opening Day form now anyway," Baker explained, so he's just, "... looking to see really how they handle adversity and how they handle pressure. As long as things are going good, you don't really get a good read on anybody, but you get bases loaded, nobody out, then we start seeing how you handle it."

Strasburg will get his two innings of work in this afternoon, and he'll be followed on the mound by (not necessarily in this order) right-hander A.J. Cole, reliever Shawn Kelley, Taylor Hill, left-hander Sammy Solis and Rafael Martin as per a report from MASNSports.com's Mark Zuckerman.

Here's the full Nationals' lineup courtesy of MLB.com's Bill Ladson on the Twitter:

Game Time: 1:05 PM EST from Viera. RADIO: Tigers feed via MLB.com's At Bat app.

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