Inside The Mariners

Seattle Mariners Come Back From Four Runs Down to Beat San Francisco Giants in Extras

Leo Rivas hit a walk-off RBI single, his second of the game, to give the Seattle Mariners a walk-off 6-5 win over the San Francisco Giants in the 10th inning.

Teren Kowatsch

Seattle Mariners first baseman Luke Raley (right) is congratulated after a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants on Friday at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners first baseman Luke Raley (right) is congratulated after a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants on Friday at T-Mobile Park. / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports
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SEATTLE — The first game of the Dan Wilson era got off to as dramatic a start as it could.

The Seattle Mariners rallied from down four runs to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-5 in extra innings off a walk-off single from Leo Rivas. The win improved the Mariners' record to 65-64 and brought them to within 4.5 games of the Houston Astros in the American League West.

"What an incredible come-from-behind win tonight," Wilson said in a postgame interview Friday. "It's what we talked about before the game — just fighting our way through the entire ballgame and these guys did that. Some great at-bats, I thought, late in the ballgame. The bullpen was extremely solid. I'm overwhelmed with how well those guys played and how well they played all the way through the game. It was tough early on but these guys continued to stick to it."

As great as the ending of the game was — the beginning was less than ideal.

San Francisco first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a solo home run in the top of the first to put Seattle behind 1-0. Giants designated hitter Michael Conforto followed his teammate's lead in the top of the fourth with a two-run shot that bolstered San Francisco's lead to 3-0.

Luke Raley, hitting in the lead-off spot for the second-straight game, knocked a solo home run to center field to get the Mariners on the board and cut the Giants' lead down to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth.

San Francisco wasn't done clearing the yard and Heliot Ramos provided the visitors' third long ball of the game with a two-RBI, 429-foot no-doubter to left field.

Ramos' home run gave the Giants their final runs of the game and put them up 5-1 in the top of the sixth.

All five runs came against Seattle starter Luis Castillo. He went six innings and gave up six hits.

Through six innings, the Mariners left just as many runners stranded. They left the bases loaded in the third.

But in the bottom of the eighth, Seattle's bats started to come alive.

The Mariners rallied off six straight hits from Jorge Polanco, Mitch Haniger, Justin Turner, Josh Rojas, Rivas and Raley. Turner's, Rojas', Rivas' and Raley's were all RBI singles and tied the game at 5-5.

Seattle went down in order after Raley's game-tying hit and were retired in order in the bottom of the ninth. Reliever Andres Munoz made sure San Francisco couldn't retake the lead and fanned the side in the top of the ninth.

In extra innings, Collin Snider came in at pitcher for the Mariners and helped strand two Giants. Julio Rodriguez, playing his first game at center field since July 21, made a diving grab to rob San Francisco of a potential run in the first at-bat of the 10th.

Dylan Moore, who was the automatic runner for Seattle in the bottom of the 10th, stole third base to set Rivas up for his eventual walk-off opportunity. It was the first major league walk-off in Rivas' career. He went 2-for-4 for the Mariners on Friday.

"I was trying to do the same thing that I try to do in every at bat — make contact," Rivas said. "Trying to do my thing for the team. (Moore) got to (third) base. Different situation, same approach. Things got to happen."

Wilson could probably have done without the game being as dramatic as it was, but it was still a good sign for the team all things considered. Even as recent as last week — a five-run rally seemed like a Herculean effort for this Seattle offense.

The Mariners' toughest out of the series is still to come. Seattle native Blake Snell is set to take the mound for the Giants at 1:10 p.m. PT on Saturday.

But this is the kind of win that can spark some motivation in the clubhouse. There's 33 games left in the season to see if it does just that.

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Teren Kowatsch

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