PALMER — Justin Kraft had a bittersweet feeling Tuesday evening.

The Mat-Su starter and Centenary College sophomore had just thrown his best game of the summer — nine innings of three-hit shutout baseball — but the Peninsula Oilers still managed to steal the victory from the Alaska Baseball League-leading Miners.

Peninsula tagged the Mat-Su bullpen for a pair of runs in the top of the 11th, and grabbed a 2-0 win over the Miners at Hermon Brothers Field.

Justin Kraft

“It’s tough,” Kraft said. “But we had our opportunities, just like they had their opportunities.”

Kawika Emsley-Pai drew a bases loaded walk and Ryan Fisher used a sacrifice fly to drive in Marty Mullins to give the Oilers the extra-inning win.

While Peninsula was able to post a combined three hits, two walks and two earned runs against a pair of Mat-Su relievers, the Miners starter was at the top of his craft.

Kraft allowed only four base runners in nine innings — the Oilers had their three hits and Fisher reached on a fielder’s choice in the seventh — while striking out five.

He also didn’t walk a batter.

“I seemed to be getting my fastball down in the zone,” Kraft said.

Kraft retired the first 10 Oilers he faced, and didn’t allow a hit until Mullins singled in the fourth. It also only took the Yakima, Wash., product 89 pitches to work through nine innings.

“I’ve never had a pitch count that low in nine innings,” Kraft said. “I normally like to work pretty fast anyway, and it helps they were swinging at pitches down in the zone. I just let my defense do the work for me.”

With the performance, Kraft marched up the list of the ABL’s top arms by lowering his earned run average to 0.99. He leads the Miners with 27.33 innings pitched, and has 19 strikeouts compared to only four walks.

Kraft started the summer in the bullpen, the place where he thought he’d most likely be this summer.

“Originally, I thought I was going to be out of the pen. They told me if I threw 80 innings at school I’d be in the pen, and I was right at that 80 mark,” said Kraft, who was 6-4 with a 4.08 during 16 appearances as a sophomore. “But a spot opened up, and they gave me an opportunity.”

While Kraft’s work was stellar, the Peninsula — which leads the league in team earned run average — was virtually as good.

Three Oilers combined for a five-hit shutout on the mound. Starter Crosby Slaught allowed four hits and walked two in eight innings. Reliever Mike Ratigan gave up just a hit in two innings to earn the win. Josh Corrales got the save.

“Kraft was outstanding,” Mat-Su field manager Russell Raley said. “We just couldn’t get any timely hits.”

Catcher Bobby Jacobs led the Miners with a pair of singles. Right fielder Scott Arthur, third baseman Shane Brown and first baseman Jonathon Cisneros also recorded a hit for the Miners.

Mat-Su, 1-1 against Peninsula this summer, hosts the Oilers tonight at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.