Tigers beat Yankees 9-6 in 11 innings

DETROIT --Carlos Guillen's three-run homer lifted the Detroit Tigers to a 9-6 win over the New York Yankees on Saturday morning in a game that lasted even longer than the 4-hour and 1-minute rain delay that preceded it.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 43rd homer for the Yankees, who got a poor performance from Roger Clemens. With the loss, the Yankees fell three games behind the Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race.

The Tigers pulled within 1 1/2 games of the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, and moved within five games of the Mariners.

Chad Durbin (8-6) pitched the 11th to earn the win and Sean Henn (2-2) took the loss.

The game lasted 4 hours and 25 minutes and ended at 3:30 a.m. EDT, with several thousand fans still at Comerica Park.

The Yankees had chances to go ahead in the ninth and 10th innings, but Fernando Rodney shut them down.

Melky Cabrera hit a leadoff single in the ninth and stole second, but Derek Jeter, Rodriguez and Jorge Posada struck to end the threat.

Posada argued with umpire Bob Davidson about the second called strike and had to be calmed down by first-base coach Tony Pena. When Posada struck out looking, he turned and said something to Davidson and was ejected.

Manager Joe Torre came out of the dugout as Posada shouted face to face with Davidson, and had to physically restrain the catcher from continuing the heated argument.

Rodney walked Hideki Matsui to start the 10th, then got out of the inning with a double play and groundout.

Detroit blew a chance to send their fans home happy in the 10th.

Magglio Ordonez, who homered nearly 4 hours earlier in the first inning, led off the first extra inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. Mariano Rivera intentionally walked two Tigers to load the bases, then got out of the jam with a liner and a strikeout.

Curtis Granderson went 4-for-6 with three RBIs. He hit two triples, extending his major league lead to 21. Ordonez also had four hits for Detroit.

In a matchup of 45- and 22-year-old pitchers, it was a push.

Clemens gave up a season-high six earned runs, six hits and three walks over five innings.

Andrew Miller allowed six runs, six hits and three walks over 4 1-3 innings in his first start since coming off the disabled list with a hamstring injury.

Clemens' major league debut came more than a year before Miller was born in 1985.

Miller -- the sixth pick overall 14 months ago -- won the Clemens Award last year as the best pitcher in college baseball. The former North Carolina star became the first to face Clemens after winning the award honoring him.

After the starters were shaky, both bullpens were solid.

Detroit's Tim Byrdak, Jason Grilli, Bobby Seay and Rodney combined to pitch 5 2-3 innings of scoreless relief.

Edwar Ramirez, Joba Chamberlain, Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizcaino combined to pitch four innings of scoreless relief.

Notes:@ Polanco committed an error in the first inning, ending his record errorless streak for a second baseman at 147 games, dating to July 1, 2006. ... The Yankees put LHP Ron Villone (lower back) on the DL and recalled RHP Brian Bruney from Triple-A Scranton. ... The Tigers sold 44,163 tickets and about half of those fans appeared to wait out the 4-plus hour delay. The spirited crowd booed when it was announced that the postgame fireworks show was canceled because of the condition of the field and Detroit's noise ordinance.