Yankees at Mariners
Andy Pettitte takes another stab at notching his 250th career victory when the New York Yankees meet the host Seattle Mariners on Saturday afternoon in the third contest of a four-game series. Pettitte, who turns 41 on June 15, failed in his first two attempts to become the 47th pitcher in major-league history to reach 250. The teams have split the first two contests after Seattle recorded a 4-1 victory on Friday.
Seattle's Raul Ibanez is 1-for-8 in the first two games of the series against the club with which he hit 19 homers last season. When the teams played a three-game series in New York in mid-May, Ibanez was 4-for-13 with three homers and eight RBIs. New York's Robinson Cano was hitless Friday and is mired in an eight-game funk during which he has gone 3-for-26 – with one of the hits being a three-run homer on Thursday.
TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, YES (New York), ROOT Sports (Seattle)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees LH Andy Pettitte (4-3, 4.17 ERA) vs. Mariners LH Joe Saunders (4-5, 5.20)
Pettitte lost to the Mariners on May 16 to drop to 11-13 with a 3.47 ERA in 25 career starts against them. He left that outing after 4 2/3 innings with a back injury and returned against Cleveland last Monday, giving up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Pettitte has won just one of his last six outings after starting the season 3-0.
Saunders has excelled at home with a 4-1 record and 2.25 ERA in six starts at Safeco Field. He beat the Chicago White Sox in his last outing, when he gave up one run and five hits in 6 1/3 innings. Saunders is 3-1 with a 5.82 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees.
WALK-OFFS
1. New York OF Ichiro Suzuki is batting .341 in 41 career at-bats against Saunders.
2. Seattle OF Jason Bay has a .368 average in 38 at-bats vs. Pettitte.
3. The Yankees have scored in just two different innings – six in the third on Thursday, one in the first on Friday – over the first two games of the series.