The Detroit Tigers are in dire need of some offense and Jim Leyland is looking at Jhonny Peralta for help.

Peralta, who has played almost his entire career in the infield, will play in left field on Monday against the Oakland Athletics. The Tigers scored the second-most runs in the American League during the regular season, but they haven't scored in the past 17 innings of the ALDS.

Peralta hit .303 with 11 home runs and 30 doubles this year, but lost his shortstop spot to Jose Iglesias when he received a 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use and missed almost the entire final two months of the season.

In 15 professional seasons, Peralta had never played anywhere other than the infield until the final three games of this season when the Tigers experimented with him in left.

"We're still pitching-oriented, and you're taking a little bit of a chance because, defensively, you don't know what's going to happen," Leyland said. "But there comes a point where you say, 'Well, you might have to give up something to get something.' So I'm just hoping that maybe he can knock in a couple of runs and we can get a lead and maybe get him out of there later in the game."