Mariners celebrate Dan Wilson’s debut with walkoff win against Giants

SEATTLE – Perched on the top step of the dugout at T-Mobile Park, right near the entrance, Dan Wilson stood in almost the same spot where his predecessor would often stand.

And like Scott Servais for so many games this season, Wilson wore the same stoic look of a man watching helplessly as hitter after hitter wandered back to the dugout in frustration following failure, often a strikeout, while inning by inning passed by without a run being scored or much of a threat to do so.

Were the Mariners giving Wilson a fitting welcome in his return to Major League Baseball in his new role as the 21st manager of the Mariners? Why provide him with some false sense of competent offense production in his first game and let him think this team is something more than it’s been all season?

For the first seven innings, the Mariners’ offense mustered only one run on two hits while failing to take advantage of a myriad of walks.

Would Wilson’s first game as a manager be another loss like so many under Servais where the Mariners failed to score more than a couple of runs?

No, thanks to a four-run eighth inning when the Mariners reeled off six consecutive singles to tie the game and Leo Rivas’ walkoff single to center in the bottom of the 10th inning, the Mariners gave Wilson a win 6-5 in his managerial debut.

With the Astros losing in Baltimore, the Mariners even picked up a game in the American League West race, trimming Houston’s lead to 4½ games.

Holding a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the eighth, Giants manager Bob Melvin, who had a two-year stint as manager of the Mariners from 2003-2004, brought in right-hander Tyler Rogers to pitch the eighth inning.

Rogers, a soft-tossing submarine pitcher who drops his release point so low it looks like he’s throwing almost underhanded, never recorded an out.

He allowed singles to Jorge Polanco, Mitch Haniger, Justin Turner, Josh Rojas, Rivas and Luke Raley that resulted in four runs.

Melvin called on right-hander Ryan Walker to clean up the mess. He did so quite effectively, striking out Julio Rodriguez, getting Cal Raleigh to pop up in foul territory and striking out Randy Arozarena to end the inning.

Walker, who was a standout at Washington State, came back to strike out the side in the ninth in dominant fashion to push the game into extra innings.

Collin Snider, who has been one of the Mariners’ best relievers in the past month, worked a scoreless top of the 10th, stranding the automatic runner at second base.

Seattle got an uneven start from Luis Castillo, who pitched six innings, allowing five runs on six hits, with no walks and nine strikeouts. The Giants scored all their runs off Castillo on homers.

Lamont Wade Jr. hit a solo homer in the first inning and Michael Conforto smashed a two-run homer in the fourth. In the sixth inning, Heliot Ramos crushed a two-run homer into the upper deck off Castillo to give the Giants a 5-1 lead.

But the Mariners’ bullpen kept the Giants off the board for four innings.