Opposite dugout: Tigers slink into D.C. on six-game losing streak

Manager: Brad Ausmus (3rd season)

Record: 14-16

Last 10 games: 4-6

Who to watch: 3B Nick Castellanos (.375/.393/.596 with 5 HR, 24 RBIs), DH Victor Martinez (.311 with 5 HR, 18 RBIs), 2B Ian Kinsler (.304 with 6 HR, 17 RBIs), 1B Miguel Cabrera (.291 with 13 RBIs), RHP Jordan Zimmermann (5-1, 1.10 ERA), RHP Francisco Rodriguez (7 saves)

Season series vs. Nationals: 1st meeting (2-2 in 2013)

Pitching probables:

May 9: RHP Anibal Sanchez vs. RHP Stephen Strasburg, 7:05 p.m. MASN
May 10: RHP Michael Fulmer vs. RHP Joe Ross, 7:05 p.m., MASN
May 11: RHP Jordan Zimmermann vs. RHP Max Scherzer, 7:05 p.m., MASN

Inside the Tigers:

Aside from right-hander Jordan Zimmermann's first season in Detroit - which we'll get to later - things are not going well in Tiger Town. Detroit expected to contend for the American League Central title this season and with its key players healthy and its young studs with another season of experience under their belts, this was supposed to be the year the Tigers supplanted the Royals atop the division. Instead, Detroit limps into an interleague series with the Nationals on a six-game losing streak. The Tigers have some gaudy numbers, just not gaudy enough to keep them on the right side of .500.

There have, however, been bright spots, chief among them the arrival of third baseman Nick Castellanos, who is finally showing some of the promise expected of him after a couple of seasons of treading water at the big league level. Castellanos is slashing (.375/.393/.596 with a team-leading 24 RBIs and playing stellar defense at the hot corner. He and second baseman Ian Kinsler, who is hitting .304 with six homers and 14 multiple-hit games, have picked up some of the slack while a couple of important offensive cogs have rounded into shape. DH Victor Martinez missed the last portion of spring training nursing a hamstring injury, but used a streak that saw him hit safely in 14 of 16 games to raise his average from .269 to .337 by May 5. But with the DH not used in National League parts, the only way he's going to see action is as a pinch-hitter or by sending a star first baseman to the bench. First baseman Miguel Cabrera, perhaps the best pure hitter of the current era, missed 10 weeks in 2015 with a calf problem, but had a strong spring and has hit .357 in May to raise his batting average to .291. Detroit tried to beef up its offense in the offseason by signing left fielder Justin Upton to a six-year, $132.75 million deal, but he's slogging along at .235 with two homers and eight RBIs, not exactly the production the Tigers were hoping for.

Detroit was hoping for better starting pitching than they've gotten outside of veteran right-handers Justin Verlander, who isn't facing the Nationals in this series, and Zimmermann, who gets the nod in Wednesday's series finale. Verlander may no longer be a fireballer, but he's been largely effective, and Zimmermann has made the five-year, $110 million free agent deal he signed in the offseason look like a wise investment. Righty Anibal Sanchez starts Monday's series opener and is coming off one of his better performances of the season: He went a season-high seven innings in a May 4 loss at Cleveland and allowed four runs on four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. The Nationals are familiar with Sanchez from his time in Miami, and he's got a lifetime 9-1 record with a 1.98 ERA in 21 starts against Washington. But he's a middling interleague performer, with an 11-9 record and 4.00 career ERA. Rookie righty Michael Fulmer makes his first appearance against the Nationals on Tuesday, and the 23-year-old who came to Detroit in last summer's Yoenis Cespedes deal with the Mets, has a 6.30 ERA and 2.00 WHIP in two starts, one decent and one not. Wednesday brings the matchup everyone's been waiting for, when Zimmermann faces his old team and struggling ace Max Scherzer, a former Cy Young Award winner with the Tigers. Zimmermann started the season with five straight victories and took a scoreless streak 25 innings deep into the season before taking his first loss May 6 versus Texas, even though he pitched well enough to win, yielding three runs on seven hits over eight innings. He's 3-0 with an 0.47 ERA in three road starts this year and knows Nationals Park well - for his career on South Capitol Street, Zimmermann was 39-22 with a 3.10 ERA in 94 starts. He's been tough in interleague play, going 12-6 with a 2.93 ERA in 25 career starts.

One of the Tigers' offseason chores was to strengthen a bullpen that has perennially cost them the opportunity to close out games, especially in the postseason. The Tigers thought they solved their ninth-inning problems by trading with the Brewers for veteran closer Francisco Rodriguez, but the results have been anything but solid. Rodriguez has seven saves in eight tries, but his 1.50 WHIP and 5.06 ERA are not the kind of numbers that inspire late-in-the-game confidence. Lefty Justin Wilson, acquired in a trade with the Yankees over the winter, has been used frequently, appearing in 15 games already and posting a 3.46 ERA, but he runs the risk of being overused. Luckily, guys like righties Kyle Ryan (3.14 ERA) and Alex Wilson (3.12 ERA) are picking up some of the slack.