Tigers 3, Yankees 2: Alex Avila singled in the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as host Detroit took the rubber game of a three-game series.

After Phil Coke (2-2) struck out Brian McCann with runners on the corners to end the top of the ninth, Victor Martinez led off the bottom half with a line-drive double into the right-field corner against Shawn Kelley (2-5). J.D. Martinez walked before Kelley recorded a pair of strikeouts, but Avila lined a shot to the fence in right to plate pinch runner Bryan Holaday with the decisive run.

Avila added a sacrifice fly and Rajai Davis had an RBI single for the Tigers, who pulled into a tie with Seattle for the second wild card in the American League and to within 1 1/2 games of first-place Kansas City in the AL Central. Kyle Lobstein allowed one earned run in six frames and Coke finished three scoreless innings for the Detroit bullpen, dropping New York three games behind the second wild card.

The Tigers struck first on Avila's sacrifice fly in the second but the Yankees answered in the third when Zelous Wheeler reached second on an infield single and a throwing error before Jacoby Ellsbury knocked him in with a base hit to center. Martin Prado singled to begin the fourth, moved to third on Carlos Beltran's double and came home on Brian McCann's grounder to second to put New York up 2-1.

A walk and a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position in the fifth for Davis, who laced a hit to right to tie it 2-2. Dellin Betances struck out Miguel Cabrera with a runner in scoring position to finish the eighth before Joba Chamberlain and Coke got the Tigers through the ninth and on their way to their fourth win in five games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Yankees RHP Masahiro Tanaka (elbow) took a step forward in his rehab with a 49-pitch simulated game Thursday. Manager Joe Girardi said that Tanaka may need at least two more such sessions before being activated. ... New York RH Hiroki Kuroda yielded two runs and four hits with four strikeouts in seven innings. ... The Yankees will kick off a three-game weekend series in Toronto while Detroit begins a four-game set in Chicago against the White Sox on Friday, featuring a doubleheader Saturday.