Aug 31, 2021; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Mariners second baseman Abraham Toro (13) hits a grand slam home run against the Houston Astros during the eighth inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
MLBBy Matt Clapp on

On July 28, a stunning trade happened in Major League Baseball. The Seattle Mariners traded stud reliever Kendall Graveman — and reliever Rafael Montero — to the Houston Astros (an AL West rival), despite being just one game out of the second AL Wild Card slot. The trade didn’t go over well in the Seattle clubhouse, with players reportedly feeling “betrayed.”

In return, the Mariners got 24-year-old infielder Abraham Toro and veteran reliever Joe Smith.

Fast-forward to Tuesday night.

The Mariners and Astros were in a scoreless tie in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Toro came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Against Graveman.

On a 2-2 pitch, Toro crushed a Graveman fastball 413 feet for a go-ahead grand slam to make it 4-0. That would serve as the final score.

Amazing. Toro becomes the first player in MLB history to hit a grand slam off a pitcher involved in the same trade earlier that season.

And that summarizes how things have gone for Toro since joining the Mariners.

With Houston this season, Toro had a .211/.287/.385 slash line in 122 plate appearances. With the Mariners, he’s now at .311/.387/.459 in 137 plate appearances (and he’s been worth 1.0 wins above replacement in 32 games with Seattle according to FanGraphs).

Nobody is happier — and more relieved — right now than Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto.

The Mariners improve to 71-62 and are 3.5 games back for the second AL Wild Card slot, even with a -57 run differential- but their fun differential is off the charts.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

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