Zach Miner reported to training camp last month eager to fight for the No. 5 spot in the Tigers’ starting rotation -- and believing, in his heart, that he deserved to be that guy.
        However, on Saturday Jim Leyland said he has told Miner that, in all likelihood, he will not be the Tigers’ fifth starter when the season begins.
        Miner took the news in stride.
        “I told him, it’s not positively 100 percent for sure, but it’s 99.9 percent, Zach Miner will not be the fifth starter,” Leyland declared before Saturday’s game, a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees in which Miner threw three scoreless innings in relief to lower his spring ERA to 7.88.
        “I wanted to prepare him for it,” the Tigers manager explained. “If you know something, and you believe it, I believe that’s the time to say it.”
        “He talked, I just listened,” Miner said, forcing a weak smile.
        However, Miner admitted the news that he will not be starting was not as devastating a blow as he once believed it might be.
        “If I had been throwing great, it would probably have been harder to handle,” Miner continued. “I think I took it better than I would have earlier.
        “But I understood the situation. I have experience coming out of the bullpen. The other guys (Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis and Rick Porcello) don’t. I knew I would have to be really, really good this spring, and they would have to be really, really bad, in order for it happen. And that hasn’t been the case.”
        After six exhibition appearances, Miner has a 1-2 record with a 7.88 ERA. Robertson is 2-1 with a 3.27 ERA after four trips to the mound. Willis is 0-2 with a 12.46 ERA. Porcello, who also pitched Saturday, is 0-1 with a 4.26 ERA.