Abraham Toro, back from Tacoma, hits key home run as Mariners beat Tigers

DETROIT – For just over a month last season, right after he and reliever Joe Smith came to the Mariners in the somewhat infamous trade with the Houston Astros that sent Kendall Graveman and Rafael Montero to Seattle’s American League West rivals, Abraham Toro was a hitting machine with a knack for producing with runners on base or in late-inning leverage situations.

For a 39-game stretch, he racked up a .315/.391/.463 slash line with 47 hits in 169 plate appearances, including 19 runs scored, 10 doubles, four homers, 23 RBI, 15 walks and just 20 strikeouts. Of course, that was followed by a frustrating fade at the end of the season in which he had a .130/.202/.182 slash line over the final 21 games that seemed to carry over into a disappointing 2022 season in which he posted a .180/.239/.322 slash line with 11 doubles, eight homers, 26 RBI, 20 walks and 47 strikeouts.

But if Toro could even replicate a portion of that stellar production in the final month of this season, it would be a major boost to the Mariners’ push to make the postseason.

In his second game since being recalled from Class AAA Tacoma, Toro crushed a first-pitch hanging breaking ball from Detroit reliever Alex Lange on Wednesday for a two-run homer in the seventh inning to turn a potential disappointing defeat into an eventual 5-3 victory over the Tigers.

“It’s nice to get a series win and hopefully we can continue to roll here tomorrow,” said manager Scott Servais, who was managing his 1,000th game with the Mariners. “The home run ball has been our secret weapon lately. It seems like all of our runs have been tied around the home run. Fortunately, they aren’t all solo homers. We’ve had some guys on base.”

With the win, the Mariners improved to 72-58 and remained a half game back of the Tampa Bay Rays (72-57), who kept their lead for the first wild-card spot with a 2-1 victory over the Marlins. With a 5-3 loss to the Cubs, the Toronto Blue Jays fell to 11/2 games behind the Mariners.

Seattle will go for a series sweep with right-hander Logan Gilbert getting the start on Thursday afternoon with Detroit sending veteran lefty Eduardo Rodriguez to the mound.

Down 3-2 going into the seventh inning, the Mariners were trending toward another loss in which the offense failed to score at least four runs – their magic number for success.

But with one out, Adam Frazier tripled into the right-center gap off Lange to put the tying run on third base.

Toro stepped to the plate knowing he needed just a fly ball of average depth to the outfield to score Frazier and tie the game. He took advantage of a breaking ball he could handle, sending a 430-foot drive deep into the right-field seats. It was his ninth homer of the season.

“Just seeing from that inning, he was throwing a lot of breaking balls,” Toro said. “I was just trying to see it up and hit a flyball to centerfield to hopefully get a sac fly and I was lucky enough to get the home run.”

Toro has been working to get more consistent about putting balls on the barrel. It was what he was known for prior to his struggles this season.

“Usually, I’m a guy that can make a lot of contact,” he said. “So when I’m fouling off a lot of pitches that’s when something in my (swing) mechanics usually is wrong. I’ve been trying to fix that.”

Seven of his nine homers have come in the seventh inning or later in games. He’s also had other clutch hits late in games this season.

“I just like those moments, just those tight situations,” he said. “You just want to drive that run in, simplify your approach. I just like delivering for the team.”

Of his 50 hits this season, 23 have come with the game tied or the Mariners trailing by a run.

“Thumbs up for Abe Toro,” Servais said. “The year hasn’t gone the way any of us hoped it would for him. After going back to Triple-A, reset and working on a few things, he looked much more like what we’re used to seeing out of him. He’s much calmer and his at-bats have been really good since he’s been back.”

The Mariners added a big insurance run in the ninth inning against Tigers All-Star closer Gregory Soto. They loaded the bases with one out and Ty France worked a walk, refusing to swing at a pair of 2-2 fastballs just out of the zone, to force in a run.

Paul Sewald worked around a pair of walks for a scoreless ninth inning to secure the win and notch his 17th save.

The Mariners jumped on Tigers starter Taylor Alexander, picked up two runs in the first inning. Julio Rodriguez worked a leadoff walk and Eugenio Suarez lifted a flyball to right field that just got over the wall for his 25th homer and a 2-0 lead.

Would it be another run-scoring party similar to the nine runs scored on Tuesday?

Nope.

The Mariners wouldn’t score again until Toro’s homer in the seventh. Seattle mustered just two base runners from the second through the sixth inning.

Marco Gonzales provided the Mariners with a solid if not spectacular outing in his 26th start of the season. Gonzales provided a “quality start,” pitching six innings and allowing three runs on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout to improve to 10-12 on the season.

But it wasn’t easy.

Gonzales found immediate trouble in the first inning, allowing the first two runners to reach on a walk and a single. With two outs, Suarez snagged the hard line drive off the bat of Harold Castor to end the inning.

He couldn’t completely escape trouble in the second inning. He allowed a leadoff single to Eric Haase and hit Kerry Carpenter with a pitch. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. A RBI single from Jeimer Candelario and a fielder’s choice tied the game. With runner on second and third and two outs, Javier Baez scalded a line drive to the left side that Suarez grabbed on a diving lunge to end the inning.

Gonzales worked the next three innings scoreless, getting additional help from his defense, but gave up a run in the sixth on three straight singles from the Tigers.

So what changed after the second inning?

“In all honesty, I came in and changed my jersey,” Gonzales said. “I just needed to change it up. I didn’t feel like myself. I felt weirdly kind of shaky and just a little off. I came in and changed my jersey and we rolled from there. I don’t know if it was a jersey or not, but to me it helped.”

Andres Munoz and Erik Swanson provided their usual scoreless innings of work in the seventh and eighth inning.