Tigers 6, Yankees 4 (12): Delmon Young delivered his third RBI hit of the night in the 12th inning to snap a tie as visiting Detroit overcame a stunning New York comeback to prevail in the opener of the American League Championship Series.
Young added a solo homer and an RBI single and Drew Smyly (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings in his postseason debut for the Tigers, who are in the ALCS for the second consecutive year.
Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez hit dramatic two-run blasts in the ninth inning for the Yankees, who suffered an even bigger blow when they lost Derek Jeter to a fractured ankle in the 12th. The captain appeared to turn his ankle on a grounder by Jhonny Peralta and was helped off the field.
Jeter, who earlier collected his 200th career postseason hit, will miss the remainder of the postseason. Eduardo Nunez was added to the Yankees' playoff roster in his place.
David Phelps (0-1) began the 12th and issued a walk to Miguel Cabrera, who advanced to second on Prince Fielder's groundout. Young followed with a drive that right fielder Nick Swisher mysteriously played into an RBI double that snapped a 4-4 tie.
Peralta reached on an infield single when Jeter suffered his injury, and Andy Dirks hit a comebacker that was deflected by Phelps, allowing pinch runner Don Kelly to score and make it 6-4.
Detroit gave starter Doug Fister a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning as Austin Jackson led off with a triple and scored three batters later on Fielder's single to center. Young followed with a base hit to right off Andy Pettitte that plated Cabrera.
Young made it 3-0 in the eighth when he lined a 1-0 pitch from Derek Lowe into the seats in left field. It was Young's sixth postseason home run as a Tiger, a new franchise record. Peralta followed with a double and moved to third on a groundout before scoring on Avisail Garcia's single to make it 4-0.
New York made an unlikely comeback in the ninth against Detroit closer Jose Valverde, who blew his second save opportunity of the playoffs. Suzuki hit a one-out, two-run homer to halve the deficit before Valverde struck out Robinson Cano and got two quick strikes on Mark Teixeira. But Valverde failed to put away Teixeira, walking him on eight pitches.
Ibanez then drilled an 0-1 pitch just over the short wall in right field for his second ninth-inning, game-tying blast of the postseason.
Fister allowed six hits and walked four in 6 1/3 innings, loading the bases three times but working out of the jams. Shortstop Peralta made a superb play on a hard grounder by Alex Rodriguez and got a forceout at second to end the first inning while Cano grounded out to end the second, although it appeared Cano was safe on the close play.
New York had runners on second and third with none out in the sixth as leadoff hitter Teixeira reached on an error by second baseman Omar Infante and Ibanez doubled. Fister struck out Rodriguez before walking Swisher to fill the bases, but the right-hander fanned Curtis Granderson on three pitches and Russell Martin on four to escape unscathed.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Jeter became the first player in playoff history to reach the 200-hit plateau. ... Granderson struck out two more times, raising his total to 11 this postseason. ... Rodriguez returned to the starting lineup after being benched for Game 5 of the AL Division Series against Baltimore on Friday. He batted sixth in the order and went 0-for-3 with a strikeout before being lifted for a pinch hitter for the third time in as many games in which he's appeared.
Detroit | NY Yankees | |
Doug Fister | Player | Andy Pettitte |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
6.1 | IP | 6.2 |
5 | Strikeouts | 5 |
6 | Hits | 7 |
0.00 | ERA | 2.70 |
Detroit | NY Yankees | |
Jhonny Peralta | Player | Ichiro Suzuki |
3 | Hits | 4 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 1 |
4 | TB | 7 |
.600 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Detroit | 15 | 1 | 23 | .300 | 26 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
NY Yankees | 11 | 2 | 19 | .234 | 27 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 |