BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Hideki Matsui and Alex Rodriguez were the featured players in the latest October drama at Yankee Stadium.

Matsui drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th inning after Rodriguez tied it with his fourth hit of the night as the Yankees knotted the American League Division Series with a 7-6 triumph over the Minnesota Twins .

New York was two outs away from falling into a two games to none hole with the best-of-five series headed to Minnesota for the next two contests. But Miguel Cairo and Derek Jeter drew one-out walks off closer Joe Nathan (0-1) in the 12th and Rodriguez delivered a ground-rule double to left-center to plate the tying run.

"Jete had a great at-bat and I wanted to make sure I forced (Nathan) to throw strikes," Rodriguez said. "I think he threw me a 1-1 slider and I hit it pretty well."

"He hit a good pitch," Nathan said. "They were laying off pitches and were patient (in the 12th)."

It was the only hit allowed in 5 1/3 innings by four Twins relievers. It also was the Yankees' first hit in 10 at-bats in the series with runners in scoring position.

"This is obviously the biggest hit (Rodriguez) has had for us so far, where it stood and where we stood in the series," Yankees manager Joe Torre said.

After Gary Sheffield was walked intentionally, Matsui lined to right fielder Jacque Jones . Jones made a weak throw and Jeter slid in ahead of the relay attempt, giving the Yankees yet another dramatic win.

"I don't think I want to watch it again, it was certainly one of the memorable games," Torre said. "We had one in Game Seven against the Red Sox last year and this was probably even more of a dramatic game because it was back and forth."

New York led the major leagues during the regular season with 61 come-from-behind victories.

By etching his name in Yankees' lore, Rodriguez got Mariano Rivera off the hook. The most successful closer in postseason history suffered his third blown save in 35 playoff and World Series chances by allowing run-scoring hits to Justin Morneau and Corey Koskie in the eighth as Minnesota erased a 5-3 deficit.

"He's been picking us up his whole career, so it was good for us to be able to pick him up for a change," Jeter said.

The Twins took the lead in the top of the 12th on Torii Hunter 's two-out solo homer off tiring reliever Tanyon Sturtze .

"It was tough. They came back," Hunter said. "It's frustrating, we could've been up, 2-0. It's tough. That's the playoffs. We have to forget about today and worry about Friday."

Game Three is Friday night at the Metrodome, where Kevin Brown of the Yankees faces Carlos Silva .

The Twins grabbed the lead in the top of the first, but Jeter tied it with a leadoff homer in the bottom half. The blast into the black section beyond the center field fence ended New York's 18-inning postseason scoring drought.

Sheffield and Rodriguez also homered for the Yankees.