Pilots claim the Mayor's Cup

The Pilots captured their sixth straight Mayor's Cup by winning the first game of a doubleheader that marked the end of the Alaska Baseball League season.

The Pilots won the opener 9-2, a victory that, combined with Monday's 7-5 win over the Bucs, earned them their 15th triumph in the annual best-of-3 series between Anchorage's two ABL teams. The Pilots own a 15-7 edge in the series, which began in 1990.

With no trophy at stake in the second game, both teams ended the summer on an upbeat note. The Bucs won 5-3 to snap a nine-game losing streak, while the Pilots let their pitchers play defensive positions and let their position players pitch.

Between games, the Bucs honored general manager Dennis Mattingly, who is stepping down after 32 seasons with the Bucs, a team he helped create in 1980.

The Pilots took control of the first game early, scoring runs in each of the first three innings while not allowing a Bucs hit.

They scored one run in the first and three in the second to chase starter Kyle Finnegan (3-5), who gave up five hits and two walks. The Pilots grabbed a 1-0 lead on Aaron Judge's sacrifice fly and then batted around in the second to go up 4-0, using a two-run homer by Maxx Garrett and an RBI infield single by Brady Hohl.

Pilots starter Tyler Linehan didn't give up a hit until Davis Morgan doubled with one out in the fourth inning. Morgan had one of three hits mustered by the Bucs during the seven-inning game; leadoff batter Landon Anderson had the other two -- both infield singles.

The Pilots pounded out 10 hits, including three in a three-run sixth inning that slammed the door on the Bucs.

In the second game, the Pilots played to have fun. They used seven position players as pitchers, with each throwing one inning and none of them embarrassing themselves -- they gave up a combined five hits while teaming up for seven strikeouts and eight walks.

The Bucs did all their damage in the fifth, when they pounced on Kavin Keyes -- usually an infielder -- for five unearned runs.

Keyes should have gotten out of the inning unscathed, but with two outs and a runner at first base, third baseman Philip Walby -- usually a pitcher -- missed Anderson's foul pop-up to give the Bucs new life. Anderson wound up drawing a walk and Logan Davis followed with an RBI single.

An error in the outfield scored a second run, a double steal scored a third, and then Jake Valdez ripped his first home run of the season for two more runs. That gave the Bucs a 5-0 lead, with all of the runs unearned.

The Pilots made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Kemp's infield single scored one run and, with two outs, Paul Moeller stroked a double down the third-base line that scored two more runs.

But with the potential tying run at the plate, closer Hunter Lemke got the next batter on a strikeout to end the rally. The win allowed the Bucs to forge a 8-8 record in their season series with the Pilots.