MINNEAPOLIS -- Jim Leyland has said repeatedly that his Tigers aren't a hit-and-run, manufacturing-runs kind of team. For one day, they might be.

The Tigers haven't been swept in a series at the Metrodome since Leyland took over as manager, part of the reason they have one baseball's best road records since 2006. After being outscored by a 15-2 margin over the first two games of this weekend's set against the Twins, they're at risk, amazingly after sweeping a three-game set at Yankee Stadium coming in.

The momentum that they had is gone, and the current struggles are looking similar to those the offense had earlier in the year.

"It seems like we get a little something going and then everybody starts to roll a little bit," Leyland said. "But when we get into a funk, it seems like everybody goes into a little bit of a funk, and you can't have that. You have to have some contributions. It's a combination of things, but we've had some real lethargic at-bats offensively this year, in my opinion."

It's the first time Leyland has cited a lack of energy. He has cited bad at-bats before, but not lethargic ones.

"It almost looks like we think that we're just going to come here and go up to home plate and things are going to happen," Leyland said. "And it doesn't work that way. We're not a manufacturing club. We've got to hit. We've got to grind out at-bats and hit."

There isn't much they can do to change that with the style of hitters and athletes they have. But Leyland hinted they could at least look at some things on a one-game basis to change the tone.

"I'll sleep on it," he said. "I'm not going to do a lot. There's not a lot you can do. But I'm going to look at it, maybe play a little bit of a different type team, play a little different style of game."

Leyland already had some changes in store for the day game after the night game. Gary Sheffield is expected to have the day off after playing eight straight games following his shoulder problems, and Magglio Ordonez is expected to slide into the designated-hitter slot. Leyland has talked about trying to get a start for Ryan Raburn, who has started just once since Sheffield and Placido Polanco were both out for the final few games of the Toronto series April 19-21.

That's more a short-term shakeup, though, than any long-term remedy. Still, it could bring some energy. The odd part, though, is what Leyland said: that a lineup that has strength in balance has seemingly ebbed and flowed together.

"You look at how we didn't hit in the first part of the season," said leadoff man Curtis Granderson, "and then all of a sudden, things click and we have a couple big games. Just as easy as it went from bad to good, it can go from good to bad. That's why you can never get content that we've figured it out. Just as these last two days haven't been the best, tomorrow's a new day. Who knows what it'll bring?"

Granderson's return last week brought about a spark, and it continued all the way into the New York series. The Twins, however, have done a quality job of keeping Tigers hitters off base. Granderson was in an 0-for-11 slump before an infield single and a home run Saturday.

As his offense waned, so did the lineup below him. However, Leyland pointed out, it's impossible to put the pressure of the offense on him when others are struggling as much.

"We just haven't done anything consistently offensively, in my opinion, and we're a better offensive club than that," Leyland said. "[We] showed signs, but we haven't maintained it. And a lot of times, I think that's mental -- your approach before you get here, when you get here, after you get here, has a lot to do with that.

"It's not anybody not trying. It's just that we haven't had that little kick in the tail to really go out and get ourselves over the hump. We just haven't done that. And you've got to have that. We just haven't played with the energy I'd like to see our club play with."

Pitching matchup
DET: LHP Kenny Rogers (2-3, 6.75 ERA)
Rogers earned his first victory at Yankee Stadium in 11 years on Tuesday by holding the Bronx Bombers to two runs over six innings despite walking the bases loaded in the third. He'll try to even his record on the season by continuing his success at the Metrodome, where he's 15-7 with a 3.90 ERA for his career but has only pitched once since joining the Tigers three years ago. He won all three of his starts against the Twins in 2006 but missed them during his injury-shortened 2007 season.

MIN: RHP Boof Bonser (2-4, 3.75 ERA)
Bonser got back to what he does best in his latest start against the White Sox, and that's using his curveball to offset a strong fastball. It helped Bonser to limit his number of walks, issuing just one over seven innings, and he struck out a season-high eight. He said his biting curve was the best he's had all season. In two career starts against Detroit, Bonser is 2-0 with 3.75 ERA.

Tidbits
Granderson is 3-for-7 with two doubles, an RBI and three strikeouts in his Major League career against Bonser.

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Up next
• Monday: Tigers (Jeremy Bonderman, 2-2, 3.86) vs. Red Sox (Daisuke Matsuzaka, 4-0, 2.52), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Tuesday: Tigers (Nate Robertson, 1-3, 6.82) vs. Red Sox (Tim Wakefield, 2-1, 4.03), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Wednesday: Tigers (Armando Galarraga, 2-1, 1.88) vs. Red Sox (Clay Buchholz, 2-2, 3.71), 7:05 p.m. ET