No matter the jersey, Abraham Toro just keeps slugging.
Tuesday afternoon, Toro was in the batting cage when he learned he had been traded from the Houston Astros to the Seattle Mariners. As the Astros were in Seattle, he walked over to the Mariners’ clubhouse to get a new warm-up top and then headed straight back to the cage.
After homering in his final two games with the Astros, the latter in Seattle, Toro also went deep against his former team in his first two games with the Mariners.
He’ll try to extend his four-game streak when the Mariners open a three-game series Friday night against the Texas Rangers in Arlington.
“I was surprised, obviously,” Toro said of the trade. “But just glad to be on this team. It’s also a good team, a lot of young talent. I guess the good news is that they want me here, so hopefully I can help this team win.”
The Mariners are two games behind Oakland in the race for the American League’s second and final wild-card playoff berth.
Toro, who was considered one of the Astros’ top five prospects, has been a third baseman most of his career but started at second for the Mariners on Wednesday.
“There’s only one way to get experience, you’ve got to go out and play it,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We like the bat, certainly it’s a switch hitter. He’s always hit at the minor league levels. We will give him an opportunity and see if he can take it and run with it here at the big-league level.”
The Mariners also added an arm before this season, acquiring Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Diego Castillo on Thursday shortly after dealing reliever Kendall Graveman to Houston as part of the Toro trade.
The Rangers also made a trade this week, sending slugger Joey Gallo to the New York Yankees in exchange for four minor-leaguers.
Rangers manager Chris Woodward said he got a call about 15 minutes or so before Wednesday’s game against visiting Arizona to pull Gallo from the lineup because the trade was imminent.
“It always hurts no matter who it is, especially a guy like that,” Woodward said.
The Rangers snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 5-4 victory against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday before dropping the finale of the two-game series Wednesday.
The Mariners are scheduled to start rookie right-hander Logan Gilbert (4-2, 3.81 ERA), who’ll be facing the Rangers for the second time. He didn’t get a decision in a 5-4 victory on June 2 in Seattle, when he allowed three runs — two earned — on five hits in 5 2/ 3 innings, with two walks and six strikeouts. After losing his first two decisions, the Mariners have won the past 10 times Gilbert has taken the mound.
The Rangers are set to counter with left-hander Kolby Allard (2-8, 4.71 ERA). Allard is 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA in five career appearances against Seattle, including four starts. He’s faced the M’s twice this season, pitching three innings of relief in a 9-8 victory May 8 in Texas, when he allowed one run on two hits.
Allard joined the Rangers’ rotation May 27 at Seattle, when he lost a 5-0 decision. He gave up just two hits in four innings, but both were solo homers — back-to-back shots by Tom Murphy and Jacob Nottingham in the third inning to break a scoreless tie.
Allard has gone 1-8 in 10 starts, receiving a total of nine runs of support in the losses.
