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Yankees go for back-to-back wins

May 3, 2008 - 12:13 PM Seattle (13-17) at NY Yankees (15-16) 1:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - The New York Yankees beat one of the Seattle Mariners' aces on Friday. They will try to repeat the effort when they host Felix Hernandez and the Mariners again on Saturday.

The Yankees snapped a three-game slide with a 5-1 win in the series opener Friday, getting to lefthander Erik Bedard for three runs - one earned - in the first two innings to give ace Chien-Ming Wang all the support he would need.

The righthanded sinkerball specialist allowed one run and three hits in six innings en route to his American-League leading sixth win.

Pitching was the main problem during New York's brief slide, as the staff combined to allow 20 runs in three games.

The Yankees will likely have to get another stellar pitching performance on Saturday, because Hernandez does not figure to allow many runs. The 22-year-old righthander has some of the best stuff in the game and he has put it to good use this season.

Hernandez (2-1, 2.22 ERA) suffered his first loss Sunday when he allowed four runs in seven innings against the Athletics, but he has allowed two runs or fewer in four of his six starts while striking out an AL-best 41 batters.

The Yankees will counter with Mike Mussina (3-3, 4.73), who has been strong of late. The veteran righthander has learned to pitch with limited velocity, winning his last two starts while allowing just two earned runs in each outing.

Mussina has always enjoyed facing the Mariners as he owns a 17-5 record and 3.75 ERA in 27 career games against the club.