NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez is turning this postseason into his personal showcase.
Coming through under pressure once again, Rodriguez hit a tying homer in the 11th inning and the Yankees edged the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Saturday night on Maicer Izturis’ throwing error in the 13th for a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.
After the rain came and went on another chilly night, New York pulled out its latest late-inning thriller. The game ended at 1:07 a.m. when Izturis threw away Melky Cabrera’s grounder to second base.
Rodriguez homered off Brian Fuentes leading off the 11th inning.
Los Angeles leadoff man Chone Figgins, who had been 0-for-18 in this postseason, gave the Angels a 3-2 lead with an RBI single in the top of the 11th off Alfredo Aceves, who had just relieved Mariano Rivera.
Rodriguez then sent an 0-2 fastball about 6 inches over right-field wall. When he rounded second, he stopped for a moment, unsure whether he had cleared the fence, but umpires signaled home run and he circled the bases.
Rodriguez had a chance to win it in the 12th, batting with the bases loaded and two outs, but he flied to center against Ervin Santana.
Rain started falling in the ninth inning and kept gaining in intensity. By the 11th, many fans had left their seats to take cover.
Coming off a 4-1 victory in Friday night’s opener, the Yankees were trying to take a two-game lead as the best-of-seven series heads to the warmth of Southern California. Robinson Cano’s RBI triple in the second and Derek Jeter’s solo homer in the third had given New York a 2-0 lead.
But Erick Aybar singled in a run in the fifth off a suddenly shaky A.J. Burnett, who sent home another run with his second wild pitch of the inning.
Burnett, following up on CC Sabathia’s eight innings of four-hit ball, started 13 of his first 15 batters with strikes and allowed one hit through four innings, but started 10 of his last 12 with balls. He gave up three hits in 6 1/3 innings, walked two and hit two batters.
Angels starter Joe Saunders, who hadn’t pitched since Oct. 4, gave up six hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked one.
Los Angeles loaded the bases in the seventh after Cano misplayed a grounder to second for an error, but Joba Chamberlain struck out Vladimir Guerrero to end the threat. After Jeter botched what should have been an inning-ending, double-play grounder in the eighth, Phil Hughes struck out Gary Matthews Jr. and Rivera came on and retired Aybar on a slow roller. Rivera pitched 2 1/3 innings of one-hit relief, his longest outing since May 2006.
Hideki Matsui singled for the Yankees off Kevin Jepsen in the ninth and Brett Gardner’s hit-and-run single sent pinch-runner Freddy Guzman to third. After Gardner advanced on defensive indifference, Cano hit a nubber in front of the plate and was thrown out at first by catcher Jeff Mathis.
As rain started to get heavier, New York had another chance in the 10th. Cabrera reached on a leadoff single against Darren Oliver and Jorge Posada hit what should have been a double-play grounder. Only Aybar straddled second, and the Angels got just one out. After an intentional walk to Jeter, Johnny Damon fouled out and Mark Teixeira grounded into a forceout.
Saunders retired his first five batters before walking Nick Swisher on five pitches. Cano then reached out for an 0-2 pitch and drove it to right-center to score Swisher.
Jeter, 7-for-15 against Saunders coming in, hit an opposite-field homer a few rows into the right-field seats with one out in the third.
