Worth noting

• Avisail Garcia left Saturday's game against the Cardinals in the bottom of the second inning with a right heel contusion. He jumped at first base while running out a grounder in the top of the frame, rather than catching the front of the bag with his stride, and felt soreness in his heel as he made his way back to the dugout.

Top prospect Nick Castellanos replaced him in right field.

Garcia sported a bandage on his heel and hopped out of the clubhouse to the team bus after the game, but hopes he will be good to go on Sunday against the Nationals.

"I don't like that because I want to play," Garcia said. "That happens when you play the game hard."

• Leyland offered a reporter one shot at predicting Detroit's starting rotation for the first five games of the regular season and heard a guess that started with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister, before the reporter blanked on the fifth spot.

"You're totally off," Leyland said. "If you had it right, I was going to tell you. You do not have it right and you will not get the rotation now until probably the last day of Spring Training."

Leyland called the home opener more of a "happening" for Detroit and predicted fans would be excited no matter who started the game.

• Outfielder Brennan Boesch, whom the Tigers unconditionally released Wednesday, signed with the Yankees on Friday.

The 27-year-old played parts of three seasons with the Tigers, beginning in 2010. He hit .240 with 12 home runs and 54 RBIs over 132 games last season.

"I knew he would sign, and hopefully things work out for him," Leyland said. "[I] thought he was going to be the right fielder for the Tigers for a long time. It just didn't work out, and at this time, it wasn't a good fit for our club, and he's moved on. The New York Yankees -- that's pretty impressive. We wish him the best. He was a great kid."

• Austin Jackson was the designated hitter for Saturday's game against the Cardinals since he played six innings in center field against the Blue Jays on Friday. Leyland wanted to "get him off his feet."