New York ? The Detroit Tigers survived a tense trip back to Bronx, with Jose Valverde and the bullpen holding on time and time again to beat the New York Yankees, 3-2, Thursday night to win the deciding Game 5 of their AL playoff series.

Don Kelly and Delmon Young hit consecutive home runs in the first inning, then Doug Fister and the Tigers spent the game trying to preserve their lead.

They did — barely — and advanced to the AL championship series against Texas.

“It was a gutsy win, especially with all the opportunities they had,” Kelly said.

Joaquin Benoit followed Max Scherzer in the seventh and walked Mark Teixeira with the bases loaded, pulling the Yankees within a run. Benoit struck out Nick Swisher with a 95 mph fastball to keep the lead.

Then in the eighth, Brett Gardner singled with two outs before Derek Jeter flied out to Kelly just in front of the right-field wall.

Valverde finished with the only 1-2-3 inning for Detroit after the first, getting his second save of the series and remaining perfect in 51 chances this year. After Valverde struck out Alex Rodriguez to end it, the Tigers’ closer crouched and pumped both arms as his teammates ran out to celebrate.

“The Yankees are so good that I would be lying if I said it didn’t give me a little extra satisfaction to be able to do it here in the fifth game,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. “This will be a game I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

While the Yankees were eliminated in the postseason with a one-run loss at home for the first time since the 1926 World Series against St. Louis, Detroit won an all-or-nothing postseason game for the first time since beating the Cardinals in the 1968 World Series.

With the Tigers vying for their first World Series title since 1984, ace Justin Verlander will start the ALCS opener at Texas on Saturday night against the Rangers’ C.J. Wilson.

It will be Detroit’s first trip to the ALCS since 2006.