New York @ Seattle preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 7, 2013 ) NY Yankees 1, Seattle 4

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.

PREDICTION: Yankees 5, Mariners 3