SEATTLE – Updating the status of key players for the Rangers:

• Third baseman Asdrúbal Cabrera is expected to be in the lineup Sunday after not starting either Friday or Saturday because of tightness in his left calf. He left Thursday’s game in the second inning, but the Rangers won’t need to put him on the injured list.

“He’s fine,” manager Chris Woodward said. “He said he’s OK. I just felt like it was better to give him an extra day. He’ll play tomorrow.”

• Second baseman Rougned Odor is not expected to be in the lineup Sunday. He was activated off the IL on Friday and Woodward doesn’t want to push him out there for three straight games, especially since the third one is a day after a night game.

• Drew Smyly , on the 10-day injured list with arm fatigue, played catch for the second straight day Saturday, and the next step will be to throw off a mound. His return could be May 5 against the Blue Jays in Arlington.

• Willie Calhoun played second base for Triple-A Nashville on Friday. Calhoun played second base in the Dodgers organization from 2015-16 before switching to the outfield. The Rangers feel he is in much better shape now to play second base and they want him to play both positions in Nashville to increase his versatility. The tentative plan is for Calhoun to play second base a couple of times a week.

• Ronald Guzmán, on the IL with a strained right hamstring, is getting at-bats in extended spring training in Arizona. The Rangers say Guzman is getting closer, but there is no target yet for when he’ll be ready for a medical rehabilitation assignment.

• The Rangers originally had Shin-Soo Choo in left field and Hunter Pence at designated hitter Saturday, but then they switched them. Seven of Pence’s previous 10 starts had been at designated hitter, and the Rangers wanted to get him some time in the outfield.

• Left-hander Taylor Hearn was examined by Dr. Keith Meister on Saturday, and the diagnosis was inflammation in the elbow ligament. Meister did not find an acute injury, but Hearn will be shut down from throwing for at least three weeks before being re-evaluated. Hearn, who reported the tightness after Thursday's start against the Mariners, will do his rehab work in Arizona.

• Using Rule 5 reliever Kyle Dowdy in the 11th inning of a tie game Friday is a sign that the Rangers are not just going to “carry” him on the roster like they did with outfielder Carlos Tocci last season. The Rangers plan on Dowdy being an integral part of the pitching staff.

“I have been dying to put him in a situation like that,” Woodward said. “I feel like this kid has such potential. He’s fearless. He throws the ball with conviction. He’s competitive. He wants to be in that situation. I know he was a Rule 5 guy, but I don’t care. The kid is young, but he is fearless.”

• The Rangers will be facing one of their former draft picks when right-hander Erik Swanson starts for the Mariners on Sunday. Swanson was an eighth-round pick in 2014 out of Iowa Community College and was one of three players traded by the Rangers on July 31, 2016 to the Yankees for Carlos Beltran. The Mariners acquired him this winter in the trade that sent James Paxton to New York. The Rangers knew at the time of the trade Swanson could end up pitching in the big leagues at some point.

“When you go through the process of evaluating your own players, you know you have to give up something to get something,” assistant general manager Josh Boyd said. “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.”