Bill Kostroun / AP

Derek Jeter of the Yankees hits a solo home run in the eighth inning during an 8-4 victory over the Tigers on Tuesday in Game 1 of their American League Divisional Series. The homer was Jeter's fifth hit of the game.

Rivera was sidelined for much of September by a strained arm muscle and Yankees manager Joe Torre held to his promise of not using Rivera before the ninth.

“I know he was kind of anxious,” Rivera said. “Knowing him, definitely kind of anxious.”

Robertson gave up seven runs in 5 2-3 innings and took the loss.

“I didn’t feel like I threw terrible, but my line doesn’t look good at all,” he said. “They’re dangerous.”

New York won its third straight postseason series opener. Mike Mussina (15-7) tries to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series when he starts on Wednesday night against Justin Verlander (17-9).

While the Yankees are in the postseason for the 12th straight year, Detroit played its first playoff game since the 1987 AL championship series. It marked the return to the postseason of Leyland, who guided Florida to the 1997 World Series title and in his first season in Detroit turned around a Tigers team that had endured 12 consecutive losing seasons.

Before the usual gaggle of celebrities (Patrick Ewing), politicians (Mayor Michael Bloomberg) and billionaires (Donald Trump), Damon’s little hit started off the third.

In a 3-for-30 slide at the end of the season, Damon hit a bouncer between the mound and first. Robertson came off the mound quickly but failed to turn his glove for a backhand, and it rolled by for a single.

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Jeter fell behind 0-2, worked the count full and, with Damon running, lined the ball to left-center for a double. Abreu followed with a double to right-center for a 2-0 lead, extending his arm in excitement after he connected for his first postseason RBIs.

“I always waited for this opportunity, and it happened,” said Abreu, whose previous postseason experience was three at-bats for Houston in 1997.

After Leyland went out to the mound to speak with Robertson, Gary Sheffield hit an RBI single and Giambi muscled a 1-2 pitch over the right-field wall for his seventh postseason homer.

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Detroit closed to 5-3 in the fifth on Monroe’s homer and two-out RBI doubles by Placido Polanco and Sean Casey.

Abreu added a two-run single in the sixth, pulling the ball between first and second, just past a diving Polanco at second.

“That’s why they’ve got the payroll they’ve got,” Robertson said. “They bring players in there to do what they did tonight. They fight off tough pitches and even do some damage to pitches that other guys can’t do damage on.”

Notes: Paul Blair (1969), Paul Molitor (1982), Marquis Grissom (1995), Mike Stanley (1999) and Hideki Matsui (2004) also had five hits in a postseason game. ... With 48 postseason RBIs, Jeter tied Reggie Jackson and Manny Ramirez for third, trailing only Bernie Williams (80) and David Justice (63).

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