Mariners at Rangers
Colby Lewis makes his first major-league appearance in nearly 21 months when the Texas Rangers open a four-game home series against the Seattle Mariners on Monday. Lewis suffered a torn flexor tendon in his pitching elbow on July 18, 2012 and then underwent hip surgery last August. “He’s the grandfather of our pitching staff,” Rangers manager Ron Washington told reporters. “He’s the leader. It’s nice to have him back, competing and getting results. We know what he is capable of doing.”
Seattle lost the last two games of a three-game weekend series against Oakland and failed to score a single run in the final 17 innings. Robinson Cano is batting .333 in his first 11 games with the Mariners but has yet to homer and has just two extra-base hits. The Rangers won two of three against the Houston Astros, with both victories coming by 1-0 scores, and also placed third baseman Adrian Beltre (quadriceps) on the disabled list.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, ROOT (Seattle), FSN Southwest (Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH Roenis Elias (0-1, 2.70 ERA) vs. Rangers RH Colby Lewis (NR)
Elias worked five innings in each of his first two major-league starts, failing to get a win either time. He allowed just one run and two hits in a no-decision against Oakland in his major-league debut and then lost to the Los Angeles Angels despite only giving up two runs and four hits. Elias never had pitched above the Double-A level prior to cracking the rotation due to injuries to Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker.
The 34-year-old Lewis is back in the rotation, at least temporarily, as Joe Saunders (ankle) landed on the disabled list. He won a career-best 14 games in 2011 and was 6-6 with a 3.43 ERA halfway through the 2012 campaign before being derailed by the elbow injury. Lewis is 6-4 with a 3.45 ERA in 18 career appearances (14 starts) against Seattle.
WALK-OFFS
1. Texas SS Elvis Andrus went hitless on Sunday to halt his season-opening hitting streak at 11 games, second-best in franchise history behind Al Oliver (1979).
2. Seattle 1B Justin Smoak is 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts over his last four games.
3. Rangers 1B Prince Fielder is off to a slow start, batting just .149 with no homers through his first 12 games with the club.