CLEVELAND -- Mariners rookie
The 25-year-old is the [No. 9 prospect](http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2019?list=sea) in the organization, per MLB Pipeline, and was acquired in a four-player trade with the Yankees on Nov. 19, 2018, that sent left-hander James Paxton to New York.
“Swanny was great, and this should be a big confidence builder for him,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said, his jersey soaked from the postgame party. “He’s had a good run so far for us, coming over to a new organization.\n\n“We’ve always known that his fastball is a separator, but the key was he was able to get his changeup going; both his changeup and his slider were on today.”
\n\n.@Erik_Swanson03 had himself a day in Cleveland. \uD83D\uDC4F\uD83D\uDC4F\uD83D\uDC4F
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) May 5, 2019
\uD83D\uDCCA 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO pic.twitter.com/wkOS3VJHxn
Swanson threw 69 fastballs, 28 changeups and nine sliders, according to Statcast. He only drew five swinging strikes and had 28 pitches fouled off, but kept the Indians guessing throughout.\n\n“Early on, he had good ride on his fastball, so he was kind of beating us and we were having trouble getting on top of it,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “You could see him gaining confidence. He started throwing a good changeup, which really gave us fits.”\n\nAn Ohio native, Swanson grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Terrace Park. Both of his parents, along with more than a dozen friends, were on hand to watch his first big league appearance in the Eastern Time Zone.\n\nThe 6-foot-3, 235-pounder fed off their energy in retiring the first 10 batters of the game, and was well aware that the Indians didn’t have a hit as he headed to the mound in the sixth.\n\n“I knew I had it, but I wasn’t thinking about that too much,” Swanson said. “After the back-to-back walks \\[in the fourth\\], I just tried to attack the zone and get some contact, and Ramirez got that one pretty good later on.”
Swanson was followed by