Yankees 5, Tigers 4: Brett Gardner belted a walk-off solo home run in the ninth inning as New York rallied to take two of three at home from Detroit.

After Mariano Rivera (3-2) blew his third consecutive save by giving up two homers in the top of the ninth, Jose Veras (0-5) retired Eduardo Nunez and Vernon Wells. However, Gardner squared up a sinker from the Detroit reliever and hammered it into the second deck for his second walk-off hit of the series.

Brayan Pena homered in the eighth while Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez each went deep in the ninth to bring the Tigers back from a 4-1 deficit. Martinez and Pena each collected three hits for American League Central-leading Detroit, which saw its division lead fall to seven games over the Cleveland Indians.

After Prince Fielder staked Detroit to an early lead, Alex Rodriguez hit a deep fly ball in the second that carried over the fence in left for his first home run of the season. Rodriguez added an RBI single in his next at-bat in the third and Alfonso Soriano recorded his 2,000th career hit on the first pitch of the fourth with a home run to left.

The Tigers clawed their way back with Pena’s second-deck blast off David Robertson and solo shots in the ninth off Rivera, who blew his third straight save chance for the first time in his career.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Rivera has allowed three home runs in his last two games against Detroit – one more than he permitted over his first 45 appearances and matching the number he allowed in 2011 – his last full season. … New York won its first series in nine tries, ending its longest such drought since 1991. … Rodriguez and Soriano each made a bit of history with their solo home runs. Rodriguez’s blast gave him 1,951 career RBIs – surpassing Stan Musial for sole possession of sixth place in major-league history – while Soriano became the 17th active player with 2,000 career hits.