Thursday: Thames gets start versus Royals

He's starting in LF in place of Jacque Jones. Leyland emphasized this morning that it had nothing to do with Jones' performance, that he wanted to get Thames a start before the Tigers faced their first left-handed starter this season, which will be White Sox ace Mark Buehrle on Sunday night.

Here's the full Tigers lineup:

1. Renteria, SS
2. Polanco, 2B
3. Sheffield, DH
4. Ordonez, RF
5. Cabrera, 3B
6. Guillen, 1B
7. Rodriguez, C
8. Thames, LF
9. Inge, CF

And for the first-place Kansas City Royals:

1. Joey Gathright, CF
2. Mark Grudzielanek, 2B
3. Alex Gordon, 3B
4. Jose Guillen, RF
5. Billy Butler, DH
6. Mark Teahen, LF
7. Ross Gload, 1B
8. John Buck, C
9. T.J. Pena, SS