ing soon enough.They’ve lost eight of their last 10 contests heading into a four-game home series against the Kansas City Royals http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , which begins Thursday night. Detroit was swept at home by Minnesota over the past three days, including an 8-2 thumping Wednesday afternoon.The Tigers fell behind 6-0 in the first four innings and were held scoreless until the ninth. They only banged out four hits.Article continues below ...“We just had a bad day out there,” Detroit manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We didn’t do too much until late. We got a couple of hits but we didn’t swing the bat well.”One positive heading in the Royals series is they’ll have their most consistent starter in the opener.Tigers starter Matthew Boyd (9-12, 4.08 ERA) has a 3.09 ERA since the All-Star break spanning 11 starts, with 68 strikeouts in 67 innings.He held Cleveland scoreless until the sixth inning in his last start Friday. He then gave up back-to-back homers to Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson and wound up with a no-decision in Detroit’s 5-4 victory.“It’s not dispiriting when we win,” Boyd said to MLB.com. “It’s fine, you can live with it. I just fell behind and kicked myself there a little bit.”Boyd was brilliant in his last home start, giving up one run on two hits over seven innings against St. Louis while racking up 11 strikeouts.He’s struggled for the most part against the Royals this season. In four starts, he’s 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA. For his career, Boyd is 3-7 with a 6.50 ERA in 13 starts against Kansas City. Royals leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield has been a big thorn in his side with 10 hits in 23 at-bats.Kansas City’s scheduled starter, Jorge Lopez, was acquired from Milwaukee in the deal that sent third baseman Mike Moustakas to the Brewers. He’s won two of his last three starts Ross Stripling Jersey , holding Baltimore and Minnesota to one run apiece.In his last start — a rematch with the Twins on Friday, Lopez took a no-decision while giving up three runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.There’s a lot of uncertainly whether he’ll be able to start Thursday. He’s dealing with a left rib contusion. He suffered the injury during a collision with third baseman Hunter Dozier.“It depends how I feel. Tomorrow’s going to be another day,” Lopez told mlb.com Wednesday. “I think I’m going to make it. It’s nothing that’s really, really bothering me, but I’m still uncomfortable.”Lopez threw 50 pitches Tuesday.“He felt it a little bit, but got through it fine, which is a good sign,” manager Ned Yost said to mlb.com. “Which means that he’s still in line to make the start. … I anticipate him making a start. Which doesn’t mean he’s going to, but I think he’s going to.”Yost’s club hit the 100-loss mark Wednesday, dropping a 2-1 decision at Pittsburgh. The Royals have won nine of the first 15 meetings with Detroit this season. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Ryan Yarbrough pitched four innings in his final spring training appearance, helping the Tampa Bay Rays close out their exhibition schedule with a 9-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday.The 27-year-old left-hander led major league rookies with 16 victories last season http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , including a 14-4 record with a 3.72 ERA in 32 appearances out of the bullpen, where he thrived in a role of following “openers” who usually got the first three to six outs of a game.Yarbough was a sidelined a portion of spring training by groin tightness, but said he feels he’s where he needs to be heading into the regular season after allowing one run and five hits during a 58-pitch outing Tuesday at Tropicana Field.“The feel has been there all spring, but I missed a little bit of time and then it’s been about getting the innings up and getting ready for that first time out,” Yarbrough said. “I set myself up to be able to do that today where I got the four innings in, and now I can go five innings next time.”Nate Lowe, Michael Perez and Carl Chester homered for the Rays, who also got big hits early from Kevin Kiermaier, Avisail Garcia and Tommy Pham while building a 4-0 lead against Tigers starter Matt Moore.Moore, who walked one and struck out three over three innings, yielded three runs in the first and a RBI triple to Pham in the second.“I’d obviously have liked to have had a better first inning,” Moore said. “But to be able to kind of calm it down in the second and third Joc Pederson Jersey , I think, was the adjustment I was looking for.”Yarbrough finished 16-6 with a 3.91 ERA over 38 appearances, including six starts last season. With the Rays entering 2019 with a three-man rotation of AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell, Charlie Morton and Tyler Glasnow, manager Kevin Cash once again will rely heavily on “openers” to fill in for the customary fourth and fifth starters.“I don’t think there’s anything specific (planned) throughout the whole year,” Yarbrough said of his expected role.“We had to change things up so much as the year went on, based on who was there, who was healthy and how everyone was throwing,” the left-hander added. “So right now, I think I’m just going to be coming in after the opener and, depending on matchups, we’re going to be taking it outing by outing and go from there.”HOT BATTigers 1B Miguel Cabrera went 0 for 1 http://www.dodgersfanproshop.com/authentic-max-muncy-jersey , ending a six-game hitting streak. The slugger was 8 for 17 over his last seven games with two doubles, three homers and eight RBIs, finishing with a .340 spring training batting average.MOVEsThe Rays optioned RHP Emilio Pagan to Triple-A Durham, trimming the spring training roster to 28 players. Three of those players — INF Matt Duffy (left hamstring soreness), as well as LHP Anthony Banda and RHP Jose De Leon (both recovering from Tommy John surgery) — will begin the regular season on the injured list.UP NEXTTigers: Open 119th season at Toronto on Thursday, with RHP Jordan Zimmermann getting the start against RHP Marcus Stroman.Rays: Tenth consecutive opening day at Tropicana Field with reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell facing last year’s runner-up for the award, Justin Verlander, and the Houston Astros.