KANSAS CITY -- While the Royals' rotation has been raiding the zone coming out of the All-Star break, the bullpen has struggled to do the same.

And it contributed to another loss Monday.

The Royals suffered their Majors-leading 33rd blown-lead loss in their 3-2 series-opening defeat to the Tigers at Kauffman Stadium. It was the Royals’ fourth loss when leading after the seventh inning.

But it was also the Royals’ fourth consecutive game coming out of the All-Star break in which starter gave them a solid outing -- and a chance to win. On a hot and humid night, Jordan Lyles tossed six scoreless innings with just one walk and four strikeouts.

With a balanced mix of six pitches, Lyles kept the Tigers off balance and searching for their timing. He flashed one of his best changeups of the year, and the Tigers didn’t put any in play, whiffing on five of the six they swung at.

“Just tinkering with it,” Lyles said of his changeup. “In between starts, different grips, watching Edgertronic, seeing the ball come out of the hand and seeing what numbers show up analytics-wise. Finding the grip and mindset, conviction-wise, of being in a good spot with it.”

Lyles faced baserunners in just three of his six innings, and the first hit he allowed was erased with a web gem of a double play started by second baseman Michael Massey.

“I’ve had some bad innings get away from me this season,” Lyles said. “To put that to a halt and stop it right there, the backhand glove flip, really pretty, and obviously came up quick to keep the pitch count down. You love to see it as a pitcher.”

In the four games coming out of the All-Star break, Royals starters -- Alec Marsh, Cole Ragans, Brady Singer and now Lyles -- have pitched 25 innings with a 2.52 ERA, walking just four batters and striking out 22.

In contrast, the bullpen has allowed six runs in 11 innings coming out of the break, with seven walks and 11 strikeouts.

After Lyles’ six scoreless innings and Carlos Hernández’s scoreless seventh inning, Taylor Clarke came in for the eighth trying to bridge the gap between Hernández and closer Scott Barlow with the Royals leading by two runs.

Entering Monday, Clarke had given up 16 runs on 19 hits in 8 2/3 innings since June 17, but the Royals have maintained their belief in the righty, in part because of his 16-inning scoreless streak earlier this season, but also because there aren’t many other relievers they can trust in high leverage situations.

Monday further illuminated that.

Clarke gave up a leadoff double to Akil Baddoo; then with two outs, Clarke hit Riley Greene and walked Spencer Torkelson to load the bases.

At 26 pitches, Clarke’s night was done. Royals reliever Jose Cuas inherited a mess.

Without a lefty in the bullpen, manager Matt Quatraro turned to Cuas against lefty Kerry Carpenter because of Cuas’ splits against lefties: Entering Monday, left-handed batters were slashing .185/.333/.333 against Cuas.

However, Cuas had also allowed 17 of 33 inherited runners -- over 50% -- to score this year. No other reliever right now has faced close to that many inherited runners. And beyond Hernández and Barlow, who was going to get the ninth if there was a save opportunity, the Royals don’t have a reliever with an ERA under 4.76 -- that mark belongs to Jonathan Heasley, who was only recently moved to the bullpen and has 5 2/3 innings in the Majors this year.

Cuas walked Carpenter on four pitches, bringing in a run, then gave up the two-run, go-ahead double to Matt Vierling.

“I’m banking on [Cuas] throwing strikes,” Quatraro said. “And the way he’s pitched to lefties, I liked that matchup better than somebody else that might now have had the same reps in that situation. It’s not a fair thing to anybody to bring him in bases loaded, but with the guys we have, I think that’s a spot where I trust him. He’s got the slow heartbeat. They beat him there, they took the walk, and that’s a tough at-bat for the double.”

The Royals’ only offense came in a two-run fourth inning off Tigers starter Matt Manning: despite having a man on second base with nobody out in both the seventh and eighth innings, the Royals could not score.

“If we have an opportunity to expand, we need to be able to do it there,” Quatraro said.