NEW YORK -- Jose Valverde almost gave the game away.

Delmon Young made sure the Detroit Tigers got it back.

Valverde blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning Saturday night, but Young delivered an RBI double with one out in the 12th inning to break the tie and lead the Tigers to a 6-4 victory over the New York Yankees.

The victory gives the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the American League Championship Series.

Miguel Cabrera drew a leadoff walk from relief pitcher David Phelps to start the 12th inning and went to second on a slow roller to first off the bat of Prince Fielder. Young then ripped a line drive to right field that eluded a lunging Nick Swisher.

Derek Jeter needed assistance to get off the field after injuring his left leg while diving for what turned out to be an infield single by Jhonny Peralta that put runners on the corners. The Tigers then made it 6-4 when Phelps couldn't handle a comebacker off the bat of Andy Dirks.

The Tigers played a solid game while building a 4-0 lead. They scratched out some runs. The defense made some excellent plays. Doug Fister worked his way out of three bases-loaded jams. But all appeared to be lost when the the game blew up in Valverde's face.

The Tigers had a 4-0 lead when Valverde entered the game in the ninth. Russell Martin drew a leadoff walk and Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-run home run -- his first career postseason homer -- with one out to make it 4-2.

Valverde struck out Robinson Cano for the second out of the inning, but he walked Mark Teixeira to bring Raul Ibanez to the plate. Ibanez then smashed an 0-1 splitter over the wall in right field to make it 4-4.

Young homered and drove in three runs for the Tigers, while Fielder and rookie Avisail Garcia each had RBI singles. The Tigers scored two runs in the sixth and two in the eighth after managing just four singles off Yankees left-hander Andy Pettitte in the first five innings.

Fister escaped bases-loaded jams in three different innings and threw 6 1/3 innings of shutout baseball.

KEY TO THE GAME

The Yankees loaded the bases in each of the first two innings but came away empty-handed thanks to a pair of excellent defensive plays by Jhonny Peralta … and a missed call at first by the umpire. That allowed the Tigers time to get their bats going after they got a slow start against Yankees starter Andy Pettitte.

TIGERS' HIGHLIGHTS

-- The Yankees had the bases loaded with two outs in the first inning after Fister issued three walks. But Peralta made a diving snag on a hard-hit ground ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez, then barely beat the runner with his throw to second base to end the inning.

-- The Yankees loaded the bases again in the second inning before Peralta -- and first-base umpire Rob Drake -- bailed them out again. Cano hit a line drive that hit Fister's wrist and bounded toward the left side of the infield. Peralta barehanded the ball and made a quick throw to first, where Drake ruled that the ball beat Cano for the final out of the inning. Replays indicated that Cano was safe. Instead of leading 1-0 with their cleanup hitter up with the bases loaded, the Yankees saw their threat come to an end.

-- Leading off the sixth inning, Austin Jackson hit a ball that was just fair down the first-base line and then bounced back toward the infield after hitting a part of the wall that juts out from the stands. Instead of a likely double, Jackson ended up on third with a triple. After the Yankees intentionally walked Cabrera with one out, Fielder and Young delivered back-to-back singles to make it 2-0.

-- Cabrera made a heads-up play to score from second on the single by Young. It appeared that Swisher had a chance to catch the blooper to right field, but Cabrera was running the whole way, which allowed him to score.

-- The Yankees had runners at second and third with no outs in the sixth -- the third time they loaded the bases in the game -- but Fister escaped the jam unscathed. He struck out Rodriguez for the first out of the inning before walking Nick Swisher to load the bases. Fister then struck out Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin to preserve his team's 2-0 lead.

-- The home run by Young was a line drive down the line in left field. It was his sixth career postseason home run, which set a franchise record.

-- Pinch-hitter Eric Chavez greeted reliever Joaquin Benoit with a fly ball to deep center, but Jackson made a nice running catch on the play.

-- Tigers left-hander Phil Coke retired all three batters he faced. He threw 16 pitches, 15 of them for strikes.

TIGERS' LOWLIGHTS

-- After scoring two runs in the sixth, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out. But Pettitte retired Andy Dirks and Garcia on infield pop-ups to escape further damage.

-- Mark Teixeira led off the sixth inning with a ground ball to second baseman Omar Infante, who was positioned in shallow right field due to the shift. But Infante bobbled the ball and never did make a throw to first, allowing Teixeira to reach on the error.

-- Valverde allowed four runs on three hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. He struck out two.

OTHER NOTES

-- Drew Smyly warmed up after the ball bounced off Fister's wrist in the second inning, but Fister remained in the game at that point.

-- Pettitte allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks -- one intentional -- in 6 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out five and allowed a Tigers player to reach second in just one inning, the sixth.

-- Fister allowed six hits, walked four and struck out five in 6 1/3 shutout innings for the Tigers.

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