John Lowe

Detroit Free Press

MINNEAPOLIS – After some deliberation, Tigers manager Brad Ausmus has decided to use the all-veteran rotation that appeared most logical for the showdown series in Kansas City this week.

Ausmus is pushing back rookie Kyle Lobstein (whose turn falls on tomorrow's open date) and will have Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello start in Kansas City, in that order.

The manager appears to have weighed giving one or more of those pitchers extra rest for this turn, a decision that might have brought Lobstein into the rotation for one of the games against the Royals.

Ausmus said Lobstein would start the home stand opener on Monday against Chicago, and that Price would go with an extra day of rest on Tuesday. That puts Price to pitch the final game of the regular season

a week from Sunday.

Here's a look at the pitching match-ups for the three games in Kansas City:

Friday night: Verlander (13-12 record, 4.81 ERA) vs. LH Jason Vargas (11-9, 3.41 ERA).

Saturday afternoon: Scherzer (16-5, 3.26 ERA) vs. RH James Shields (14-7, 3.15).

Sunday afternoon: Porcello (15-11, 3.19 ERA) vs. RH Jeremy Guthrie (11-11, 4.35 ERA).