MLB: Detroit 7, Texas 5

DETROIT, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Delmon Young hit two of Detroit's four home runs Thursday and helped keep the Tigers' season going by powering them to a 7-5 victory over Texas.

Detroit reduced its deficit in the American League Championship Series to 3-2 and will travel to Texas for Game 6 Saturday. The Rangers are in the same position as they were a year ago, owning a one-game lead in the ALCS and heading home in hopes of providing the clincher.

Texas earned its first World Series trip last year with a six-game elimination of the New York Yankees.

One of Young's homers came during a four-run sixth inning that broke a 2-2 tie. He also hit a solo shot in the fourth, as did Alex Avila in the third and Ryan Raburn in the seventh.

It was the sixth inning, however, that provided the key to a must victory for the Tigers and that frame also featured a fluke hit for Miguel Cabrera that served as a Detroit catalyst.

Raburn led off the inning with a single against C.J. Wilson and Cabrera then hit a 1-1 pitch sharply down the third-base line. The ball bounced off the bag and into left field for an eventual double that brought Raburn around from first with the go-ahead run.

Victor Martinez followed with a triple that brought home Cabrera and Young then hit his fourth homer of the playoffs.

Raburn's homer in the seventh gave Detroit a 7-2 lead and the Tigers fought off a late Texas comeback that included a two-run homer by Nelson Cruz in the eighth.

During the first five games against the Tigers, Cruz has become the first player in major league history to hit a game-ending grand slam and also the first to hit two extra-inning homers in the same series.

The Tigers had to have a solid outing from ace Justin Verlander to keep their season alive and they got one. Verlander limited Texas to two runs through seven innings before he gave up the Cruz homer. He struck out eight.

Neither reliever Joaquin Benoit nor closer Jose Valverde was available to the Tigers for this game because of a heavy workload earlier in the series, making it vital that Verlander hold Texas in check.