I was back in Sausageland last night, rejoining the Toronto Maple Leafs' on the road after being away for a few days. During that time, the Leafs split a home-and-home series with the Burlington Bandits, and they continued to wallow in the middle of the IBL standings.
There was an unexpected sight at Kitchener's Jack Couch Park - Sean Reilly and his pythons in a Maple Leafs uniform. Reilly had been traded to Toronto by the Guelph Royals in exchange for four - four! - players: pitchers Clay Caulfield and Zack Pearson, catcher Duaine Bowles, and a player to be named later.
The Leafs continue to amass an arsenal of power hitting monsters in hopes of running up the score on other teams, but this night it was the pitching that went bust. The Panthers stopped a three-game slide with a 12-6 win that saw them hit 4 home runs.
The pitching carousel continued for Toronto, as southpaw Franco Pace got his first start of the season. He held his own for three innings, while teammates Reilly and Rob Gillis (above) each hit home runs to give their side an early lead. But it was the Kitchenerians who rallied against reliever Rick Brooks and ran up the score.
Of course, no visit to K-W is complete without taking one wrong turn. As I was leaving after the 8th inning, I blew past the ramp to get back on the highway that leads to the highway that leads to the 401. Luckily I spotted the error, backtracked right away, and avoided ending up on some service road to hell.
Recap:
Maple Leafs shortstop Dan Marra singled off Kitchener Panthers starter Matt McGovern to lead off the game. Marra then got into McGovern's head, as they played cat and mouse with three pickoff attempts thrown to first base. Second baseman Rob Gillis observed silently, then BOOM! Gillis blasted a 2-run home run over the right field fence and the Leafs had a 2-0 lead after 1 inning.
Kitchener retaliated with a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning, from leftfielder Jeff Pietraszko and rightfielder Brian Burton. Catcher Rick Murray and second baseman Mike Andrulis followed with singles, and Leafs starter Franco Pace ended up walking the bases full. Third baseman Mat Taube came up, and hit a grounder to Marra, who bobbled the ball and threw late to first base, allowing Murray to score and give the Panthers a 3-2 lead after the 2nd.
Toronto got back on top in the 3rd. Marra walked, as did rightfielder Jon Waltenbury. Then BOOM! A 3-run homer by newly-acquired DH Sean Reilly put the Leafs back in front, 5-3.
In the bottom of the 3rd, the Panthers got one back on Brian Burton's second solo homer of the game. It was 5-4 Leafs after the 3rd.
Rick Brooks came on to pitch for Toronto in the 4th inning. BUST! He gave up three hits including a 3-run home run by Panthers first baseman Mitch Delaney, which made the score 7-5 Kitchener.
The Panthers piled it on in the 5th, mauling Brooks for 5 more runs. Brooks gave up a double, single and walk to start the inning, then shortstop Iggy Villalobos singled to drive in the first two runs of the frame. Centerfielder Keith Kandel singled to drive in another run, and then Delaney doubled to drive in two more. When the dust settled, Brooks had been tagged for 8 runs in two innings and Kitchener led 12-5 after 5.
Matt Vickers relieved McGovern to start the 6th inning. He gave up singles to leftfielder Justin Gianfrancesco and third baseman Sean Mattson. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, then Gianfrancesco scored on a ground out by Marra that made it 12-6 after 6.
By then, the sun had set and a chill was setting in. Some of the Panthers bench players started snacking on sausages hot off the grill. I snuck around to the beer stand and grabbed a quick one - something to fuel me through the remaining three innings. Not much happened. The Leafs got just one hit the rest of the way and never threatened to overtake the home side.
Since the Leafs' last trip to Kitchener, the Panthers had kicked one Japanese pitcher to the kerb in favour of another - Daisuke Yasui was released in order to bring in Kaisuke Saito. Saito pitched a perfect 9th to preserve the 12-6 win for Kitchener. By then, I was already burning up the 401, past the giant woman on the Schneider's billboard who smiled mockingly as I rolled back to Toronto, wondering what it's going to take for this team to finally explode into contention.
The Leafs are now 7-11 and in 5th place, 9 games behind the Brantford Red Sox. Their next game is at Guelph on June 22, against the Guelph Royals.
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