MLB

Yankees starter isn’t mystery to Tigers this time

Victor Martinez had the look of someone who has been through this before.

The Tigers had just gotten pummeled by the Yankees in Game 4 at Comerica Park and now faced a deciding game in the ALDS tonight at Yankee Stadium.

“Nobody said it was going to be easy,” Martinez said. “That’s the way it is, especially against this team.”

COMPLETE YANKEES COVERAGE

Martinez was with the Indians when they knocked off the Yankees in four games in the ALDS in 2007. This series has proven to be tougher, and to advance Martinez and his teammates will have to beat the Yankees and Ivan Nova tonight in The Bronx.

“It’s not a fun place to play, but we know we have what it takes,” Martinez said.

They will have to do a better job against Nova than they did when the right-hander took over for CC Sabathia after Game 1 was suspended by rain. The 24-year-old tossed 62⁄3 innings and gave up just two runs in the Yankees’ 9-3 win.

“You always pick up things the first time you face a guy,” Martinez said. “We know we have to be better, but we never doubt ourselves.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland was confident his team would rebound from Tuesday’s loss.

“We’ve got one game or several games left,” Leyland said at Yankee Stadium yesterday. “It’s that simple. … We’ll respond, like we always do.”

Leyland added that he would shake up his lineup a bit for Game 5, with Don Kelly getting the start at third and Magglio Ordonez returning to right field.

And after a rocky outing by his bullpen in the Game 4 loss, Leyland said he hopes to only have to use Phil Coke, Joaquin Benoit and Jose Valverde — bypassing Al Alburquerque, as well as Justin Verlander.

He also would like his offense to produce more than two runs off Nova.

“I think anytime you see a pitcher for the first time, you’re really not sure,” Leyland said. “I think we really got out of the strike zone a little more in this series than I had hoped we would. Hopefully now that we’ve seen him we’ll have a little better idea the second time around.”

dan.martin@nypost.com