LAKELAND, Fla. — While Ross Detwiler and Gio Gonzalez were away from Washington Nationals camp with Team USA, manager Davey Johnson often extolled the virtues of 40 percent of his starters pitching in the World Baseball Classic. The experience and the stage, he said repeatedly, would be one that would only do them good.
But with Team USA eliminated from the WBC on Friday, the Nationals immediately slotted Detwiler in to face the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland on Sunday. The primary reason, of course, was that Detwiler hadn’t pitched in a game in a week, so getting him back into the swing of things with the Nationals was paramount.
It didn’t hurt, though, that he’d be getting a pretty good test facing a lineup that includes Torii Hunter, Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Victor Martinez.
“They’ve got some of the best hitters in baseball,” Johnson said Sunday morning. “I didn’t want him to miss this experience. I know he’d been kinda tired of the travel. I know it doesn’t make it easier but I want to see him pitch and this is part of the learning process, too. We face these guys during the year.”
Detwiler will most likely be held in the 60-70 range with his pitch count, having thrown around 50 pitches twice but not yet been pushed too much further.
Here are the full lineups:
Nationals
Danny Espinosa 2B
Steve Lombardozzi 3B
Bryce Harper CF
Tyler Moore RF
Ian Desmond SS
Kurt Suzuki C
Chad Tracy DH
Chris Marrero 1B
Micah Owings LF
— Ross Detwiler P
Tigers
Austin Jackson CF
Torii Hunter RF
Miguel Cabrera 3B
Prince Fielder 1B
Victor Martinez DH
Andy Dirks LF
Omar Infante 2B
Alex Avila C
Danny Worth SS
— Drew Smyly
