Rodriguez homer leaves Yankees and Angels tied at 3 through 11 innings in ALCS Game 2

Yankees, Angels tied at 3 through 11 in ALCS

NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez homered off Brian Fuentes leading off the 11th inning, and the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels were tied 3-3 Saturday on another bitterly raw, rainy night in the AL championship series.

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.

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. Melky 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. With 19 postseason homers, Jeter moved past former Yankees Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson into sole possession of third place, trailing only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez (29) and former Yankees teammate Bernie Williams (22).

The Angels tied it in the fifth, with the top of the inning taking 23 minutes as Burnett threw 33 pitches.

Maicer Izturis doubled, just the second leadoff runner to reach for the Angels in the series. Aybar singled him home with one out and stole Los Angeles’ first base of the series, and Figgins became Burnett’s second hit batter of the game. Bobby Abreu chased a high 3-1 fastball, fouled off three pitches and flied out to Damon in foul territory, just in front of the left-field wall.

Torii Hunter walked, with ball four bouncing into the stands. With Vladimir Guerrero at the plate, Burnett bounced a 1-2 pitch that scored Aybar with the tying run. Guerrero grounded out on the next offering.

After a scheduled travel day Monday, the series was set to resume Tuesday afternoon in Anaheim with Jered Weaver pitching for the Angels against Andy Pettitte. The Yankees appeared set to bring back Sabathia on three days’ rest for Game 4 the following day, but manager Joe Girardi wouldn’t commit.

“We’ll talk about it,” he said, “if we know we get through this game and what’s going to happen to our rotation. We have an off day to prepare what we’re going to do.”

There was a chance of a schedule change. The forecast called for the rain to intensify, and under a rules change adopted after last year’s storm-disrupted World Series in Philadelphia, no postseason game can be shortened. Instead, it would be suspended and then resumed the following day, or whenever the weather cleared.

It was 47 degrees at gametime, 2 degrees warmer than on Friday, but it was again blustery, with a 15 mph wind from the north-northeast and gusts up to 23 mph that made the ceremonial red-white-and-blue bunting flap.

Teixeira, Damon and Swisher again wore Elmer Fudd-style caps with ear flaps, and Cano had on a ski mask. Rodriguez remained the only Yankees starter in short sleeves

Aybar went without the hood he wore in the opener, when he allowed a popup to drop between himself at shortstop and Figgins at third. Izturis, who didn’t start in the opener, wore a hood.

Saunders, like John Lackey the night before, was in short sleeves.