NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez hit a tying double in the 12th inning, then Derek Jeter dashed home on Hideki Matsui's sacrifice fly and the Yankees bailed out Mariano Rivera with another improbable postseason comeback, beating Minnesota 7-6 Wednesday night to even their series at a game apiece.

New York responded with a championship-caliber rally after falling behind in the 12th on Torii Hunter's home run.

Corey Koskie keyed an eighth-inning rally with a tying double against Rivera, who blew a save in the postseason for only the third time in 33 chances.

Game 3 in the best-of-five AL series will be Friday night at the Metrodome, with Kevin Brown starting for the Yankees against Carlos Silva.

This game went to extra innings tied at 5, and it stayed that way until Hunter connected on the 49th pitch from reliever Tanyon Sturtze, who had worked 2 2-3 hitless innings to that point.

But Twins closer Joe Nathan was running out of gas, too. He walked Miguel Cairo and Jeter with one out in the 12th, bringing up Rodriguez, who struggled in clutch situations for most of his first season with the Yankees.

He's changing all that in October. A-Rod hit a ground-rule double to left-center on Nathan's 49th pitch, tying the score at 6 with his fourth hit of the game.

Gary Sheffield was intentionally walked before J.C. Romero replaced Nathan.

With the outfield drawn-in, Matsui hit a liner directly at right fielder Jacque Jones that appeared to be too shallow to score Jeter from third.

But Jeter took off for the plate, and Jones' throw didn't have much on it. First baseman Matthew LeCroy, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the 10th, relayed the ball to the plate, but Jeter slid in safely.

Paul Quantrill got one out in the 12th for the win, retiring rookie Jason Kubel with two on in the 12th.

While Roger Clemens continually pitched out of trouble, Brad Ausmus, Lance Berkman, Carlos Beltran and Jason Lane homered for Houston to lead a rout of Atlanta in Game 1 of their NL division series.The Astros set a franchise record for runs in a postseason game. They twice scored seven while losing to Philadelphia in the 1980 NLCS - the first of their seven straight playoff series losses.Jeff Bagwell came through with his first postseason extra-base hit, an RBI double that put the Astros ahead for good in the third inning.The Astros carried over their momentum from the regular season, which they closed by winning 36 of 46 games to claim an improbable wild card.Game 2 is Thursday at Turner Field, with Houston sending 20-game winner Roy Oswalt to the mound against former Astros Mike Hampton.Ausmus led off the third with the first of Houston's three homers off Jaret Wright, tying the score at 1. Bagwell's RBI double was followed by Berkman's two-run homer into the Braves' bullpen for a 4-1 lead.Beltran knocked out Wright in the fifth with another two-run homer. Bagwell singled off new pitcher Kevin Gryboski and came all the way around to score on Jeff Kent's double to left.Clemens showed the effects of a stomach virus that knocked him out of his last start of the regular season. The Hall of Famer-to-be walked six - all in the first four innings and the most he's given up in a game since 1998.But Clemens also displayed plenty of grit in winning a Game 1 start for the first time in his postseason career. The Braves stranded nine runners in the first four innings.Clemens lasted seven, throwing 117 pitches, giving up two earned runs and striking out seven.