Texas, who squandered a 5-0 lead with a bullpen meltdown in Friday's Game One loss, led 5-0 again after three innings but tacked on more runs and five relievers protected starter Colby Lewis's strong performance.

"Those guys have always bounced back and they did it again today," Rangers manager Ron Washington told reporters about his team. "I'm not surprised." The win marked the first post-season victory ever at home for Texas, who had swept three road games against the Tampa Bay Rays to advance in the first round of the playoffs, and it snapped a 10-game post-season losing streak against the Yanks.

For the second game, the Rangers had no trouble scoring on New York's starting pitching, knocking Phil Hughes out after four innings, the same treatment suffered by CC Sabathia.

Texas set the tone in the first inning, literally stealing a run with aggressive base running.

Leadoff hitter Elvis Andrus hit a high hopper off Hughes's glove for an infield single, advanced to second when the pitcher bounced a curve in the dirt and then stole third base.

After Josh Hamilton drew a walk, the Rangers executed a perfect double steal.

Hamilton broke for second, drawing a throw from catcher Jorge Posada. Hamilton pulled up before he reached second base as Andrus dashed for home. The throw home was not in time as Andrus slid across the plate for a 1-0 Texas lead.

The Rangers scored two runs in the second, the first on David Murphy's towering solo home run to right and the second on an RBI-double by Michael Young.

Texas added two more runs in the third on doubles by Cruz, Murphy and Bengie Molina that boosted the lead to 5-0.

"Our starting pitchers have not pitched very well," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "But I believe in our guys and that they will pitch well going forward." By contrast, Texas got another solid performance on the mound from Lewis following Friday's outing by C.J. Wilson.

Lewis, a former top Texas draft choice who pitched the last two seasons in Japan for Hiroshima Carp, went 5-2/3 innings giving up two runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

"I just had to go out and do a job and get us back on track," said Lewis.

In Friday's collapse, four Rangers relievers failed to put out the fire in New York's five-run, eighth-inning rally that turned a 5-1 lead into a 6-5 loss.

This time, the Texas bullpen hurled 3-1/3 innings and allowed one hit.

Texas mounted a balanced 12-hit attack with every starter getting a hit except slugger Hamilton, who drew four walks.

"We definitely had to get this win at home," said Nelson Cruz, who crushed two doubles high off the outfield walls. "We don't want to worry about what happened the night before. We wanted to worry about today." The series, which determines the AL team in the World Series, shifts to New York for Game Three Monday.

Cliff Lee, 6-0 in his post-season career, will start for Texas against Andy Pettitte, whose 19 post-season wins tops the all-time list.

At Philadelphia, Tim Lincecum oupitched Roy Halladay and Cody Ross hit a pair of solo homers as San Francisco beat Philadelphia in Game 1 of the National League championship series.

In a mega-hyped match up between marquee pitchers, neither starter came close to matching his sensational postseason debut last week. Both gave up homers to the No. 8 hitters.

Halladay's bid for a second straight no-hitter lasted until Ross connected with one out in the third.

Lincecum, who tossed a two-hitter, gave up three runs on homers to Jayson Werth and Carlos Ruiz in seven innings.

But the Freak got the big outs when he needed them, and the Giants earned their fourth one-run win in the playoffs.

The two-time NL champion Phillies lost their first series opener since getting swept by Colorado in 2007.

Game 2 is Sunday night. Jonathan Sanchez tries to send the Giants back to San Francisco just two wins from their first World Series appearance since 2002. Roy Oswalt goes for the Phillies.