MLB Game Preview - Texas at Seattle

Sun Apr 28, 2019 4:10 PM EDT

Pitchers always like to beat one of their former teams.

Erik Swanson has a chance to make that even more special Sunday afternoon.

The Seattle Mariners right-hander, originally selected by Texas in the eighth round of the 2014 draft, will take the mound against the Rangers at T-Mobile Park in search of his first major league victory.

Swanson was one of three players traded by the Rangers on July 31, 2016, to the New York Yankees in exchange for Carlos Beltran. The Mariners acquired him in the offseason in the deal that sent left-hander James Paxton to New York.

"When you go through the process of evaluating your own players, you know you have to give up something to get something," Rangers assistant general manager Josh Boyd told MLB.com. "We were obviously in a position to compete for and win a division and a World Series. Other teams scout and ask for our players for a reason."

Swanson will be making his third start since joining the rotation for the injured Wade LeBlanc.

He suffered a 1-0 loss to Cleveland in his first start, then gave up two home runs to San Diego's Franmil Reyes in his last outing in a 6-3 defeat.

Swanson overcame a shaky second inning against the Padres to retire 10 of the next 11 batters he faced.

"I just tried to continue the game plan," he told The Seattle Times. "I attacked with (my) fastball and worked in my slider a bit more to show them I have it. I got ahead in the count and got some outs early."

The Padres had another home run hit off the glove of center fielder Mallex Smith and carom over the fence.

"I was happy with the way Swanson threw the ball," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "He should've got through six. But we have the error and then the crazy play with Mallex for the home run."

Swanson will face veteran right-hander Lance Lynn (2-1, 6.51). Lynn won his only previous start against the Mariners last season while with the Yankees, giving up two runs in six innings.

The Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday night with a 15-1 victory.

Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor hit three-run homers in the first two innings and the rout was on.

"To see our offense get off to the start that it did and continue the at-bats, hopefully it will turn into more as we get going," Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. "It was nice to get the monkey off our backs and have an explosive game. Obviously we were starving for results. For the most part we were sticking to the process but at some point you need results. We got some (Saturday)."

Joey Gallo added his ninth homer of the season, a solo shot in the eighth inning to snap a streak of six games without going deep, a season-high.

Left-hander Mike Minor allowed one run on three hits in seven innings.

"We haven't played well the last couple of games, so we really needed a win tonight," Minor said. "Early on, I knew it was going to be tough with the weather, but I just kind of grinded through it and gave them as many innings as I could because I knew the bullpen was kind of spent."

--Field Level Media