Bandits win 9-5
Justin Cicatello walked onto the mound at Christie Pits today charged with a hard task: pitch your guts out, son.
Cicatello is a man of hard tasks. These pages are witness to the numerous long outings he has pitched for the Toronto Maple Leafs over the past three seasons. Most heroic of all was his mind-blowing 192-pitch complete game win against the Burlington Bandits in 2013.
So many times, "Cic" has proven himself a gamer, willing to throw his arm off for the Mapes. He's done it earlier this season and he did it again today, pitching in hot-as-hell humidity against those same Bandits. Once again, our hero went the distance this afternoon, throwing 132 pitches for another complete game. And in the process, he got whipped like a mule. Sometimes things don't work out.
The Bandits rang up nine earned runs off our hero. Cicatello took some lumps, but kept going back out there. The Leafs' bats went cold. The Leafs' bullpen barely stirred. The cloudy skies grew darker. Late in the game a quick, hard rain poured down on the Pits. The sparse hillside crowd took cover from the cold and wet. Most didn't return.
Then the rain stopped, and the hero went out there to finish his task like some character out of a Johnny Cash song. No glory today, but tons of guts.
Game Recap:
A weekend of brutal humidity continued this afternoon at Christie Pits, as the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted the Burlington Bandits in the final game of a home-and-home series.
Justin Cicatello made the start for the home side, against Matthew Pillarczyk.
The Bandits have gotten on a roll this week and wasted no time jumping on Cicatello. They knocked him for six hits and scored five runs to take an early commanding lead.
Burlington added another run to make it 6-0 for the visitors after two innings of play. The Leafs had yet to record a hit at this point.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Leafs finally got on the board, when second baseman Dan Marra hit a solo home run off of Pillarczyk. 6-1 Bandits after five.
The Leafs staged a comeback rally in the next inning. Matthew Paculan relieved Pillarczyk. He delivered a leadoff walk to leftfielder Grant Tamane. First baseman Johnathan Solazzo then reached first on an error. Third baseman Sean Mattson hit one to second base that was misplayed for an error, allowing him to reach base safely as Tamane and Solazzo scored. The Bandits' sloppy inning continued as DH Gianfranco Morello reached first on an error. Marra was then walked to load the bases. Centerfielder Tyler Mitchell stepped up to the plate and got hit by a pitch, bringing Mattson in to score. With just one out, catcher Brendan Keys grounded out and Morello scored on the play. When the inning finally ended, the Leafs had pulled to within one run, and the score was 6-5 through six.
The Bandits are a scrappy bunch and they kept at it. Centerfielder Shaun Cooper hit a two run home run in the top of the 7th that extended the visitors' lead to 8-5.
A brief shower in the 8th inning caused a short rain delay.
Cicatello went back out to pitch the 9th inning. He gave up one more run on a sac fly by first baseman Kevin Hussey that made it 9-5 Bandits and that was how the game ended. The Leafs were able to get only four hits on the day, while striking out eight times.
Burlington 9-15-4
Toronto 5-4-3
W - Pillarczyk (1-0, 2.25)
L - Cicatello (2-3, 5.27)
S - Slemko (1)
BOXSCORE
The Maple Leafs are now 13-17 and have dropped down to sixth place, 11 games behind the Barrie Baycats. They are on a five-game losing streak, with a chance to break out of it in London on Wednesday night when they will play a rescheduled rainout game against the Majors.
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