Monday night was a microcosm of the Alaska Baseball League season. The pennant-chasing Fairbanks Goldpanners played well on both sides of the ball, while the slumping Anchorage Bucs simply blew it at crunch time.
Not surprisingly, the Goldpanners won 3-1 at Mulcahy Stadium to pull into a first-place tie in the ABL and drop the last-place Bucs further behind the pack.
Rubber-armed Fairbanks pitcher Brett Andrade tossed four innings of shutout relief and benefited from two late runs to earn his fourth win. Andrade leads the team with 12 appearances and has played a hand in many Fairbanks victories this season.
"Feels like I warm up every day," Andrade said.
Andrade picked up for starter Kyle Aselton beautifully, limiting the Bucs to just two hits and retiring 10 of the final 11 batters. He said he knew his team would eventually score, which the Goldpanners did in the ninth inning.
Fairbanks took advantage of two hits and one dropped fly ball, spoiling a terrific outing by Bucs hometown reliever Chuck Withers. Emerson Frostad led off the inning with a single and eventually scored when Bucs right fielder Shawn Scobee failed to catch a fly ball by Jeff Culpepper.
Scobee twisted and turned going back on the ball. Just when he straightened around and looked able to catch the ball, it bounced off the heel of the glove. It was the Bucs' 52nd error in 29 games. The next batter, Jake McLintock, lined a shot off the first-base bag that scored Culpepper to give Fairbanks a 3-1 cushion.
The Bucs lost the game and, perhaps, another player to injury. They have had no love when it comes to players getting hurt as pulled muscles, dead arms and bad hops have doomed them all summer. Starting pitcher Joey Andrews was the latest victim.
Andrews left the game in the fourth inning after he was struck on the forearm of his pitching arm by a one-hopper off the bat of Brad Davis. Andrews winced in pain but stayed in the game after a few pitches. He lasted one more batter before Withers entered.
"That's the way it goes. It happens," said Andrews. "It's just that it seems like it's happened more to us than anybody else."
Coincidentally, Andrews came to Anchorage as a midseason replacement for a player injured earlier this summer. He entered the game sporting an earned-run average of 18.57 in his first three appearances. On Monday pitched 51/3 innings and allowed only one unearned run before being struck.
Withers, who played at Service High, turned in his finest effort of the season. He pitched six effective innings and yielded just one hit before the ninth inning when two unearned runs crossed the plate.
"Chuck threw well. My injury was a blessing in disguise for him," Andrews said.
Aselton, who had given up 19 hits in 16 innings entering the game, carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning thanks in part to two major-league type defensive plays from his middle infielders.
Second baseman James Guerrero robbed Joey Wilson in the first inning with a dynamite play in which Guerrero ranged far to his right and in one smooth motion jumped and made an accurate throw. Shortstop Jose Rodriguez took a base hit away from Mike Thompson in the fourth inning when he leaped to snare a line drive above his head.
Guerrero's web gem was his favorite, Andrade said.
"That was probably one of the best plays of the year," he said.
The Bucs finally touched Aselton for a run in the fifth inning. The stingy defense that had helped Aselton cruise early broke down as the Bucs parlayed an error, stolen base and run-scoring single by Scobee to pull even.
Scobee eventually advanced to third but was stranded after Goldpanners third baseman Frostad stole a RBI single from Wilson by diving to his right and making a strong throw.
Daily News reporter Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@adn.com or 257-4335.
