Bucs miscues lead to Miners win

ANCHORAGE — Six Anchorage errors and multiple base-running issues helped Mat-Su improve to 2-0 on the Alaska Baseball League season with a 10-3 victory over the Anchorage Bucs Tuesday night at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage.

The Miners used five different pitchers on Tuesday night in Anchorage. Starter Grant Richardson went the first two. All six of his outs were on swinging strikeouts.

Brady Maylett got into a little trouble, but Vinny Bianchi, Mario Bejarano, and Will Rizzo took care of business down the stretch.

Bejarano was subbed out of the starting lineup after an 0-for-3 outing on Monday against the Chinooks. But the utility player bounced back and tossed a scoreless eighth inning.

In the field, Miners catcher Austin Machado threw out a runner trying to steal second, shortstop Emilio Barreras threw out a runner gunning for third base on a routine grounder, and third baseman Braydon Rogers doubled-up a runner from first base on a pop-up.

Seven of the Miners runs came in two innings, the third and the ninth. A throwing error by the Bucs’ Curtis Hebert on a grounder from Kaden Carpenter allowed Vest to score. Two batters later, Anchorage catcher Nolan Wilson couldn’t squeeze a pitch which let one runner score. In an attempt to throw that runner out, Wilson overthrew the pitcher covering home plate, which let a second run in.

Hebert committed four errors himself across the game. Two came in the ninth inning.

The underlying fact for Mat-Su is that Vest was the only player consistently doing damage at the plate. The BYU product recorded three extra base hits (two triples and a double) with two RBI. One day after notching two of the Miners’ four hits, he had three of the team’s five hits on Tuesday against the Bucs.

Also of note, Bucs’ relief pitcher Sky Wells had a perfect four innings of work. From the fifth inning through the eighth, he retired all 12 Miners batters. He struck out nine of those batters. The only players in Mat-Su’s lineup that didn’t fan against the lefty were Machado, Barreras, and Rogers of the Braydon variety.

Mat-Su will host the Anchorage Glacier Pilots Thursday at 6 p.m. at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer.