2021 IBL Championship Series - Game 4, September 30 - London Majors at Toronto Maple Leafs
Leafs win 6-5 (13 innings), series tied 2-2
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| The calm before the bomb: Sean Reilly's 13th inning home run sent the Pits into a frenzy. |
Dustin Richardson saved the game, and Sean Reilly won it.
Facing elimination in the IBL Championship Series at Christie Pits last night, Richardson pitched seven innings of relief and Reilly's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th gave the Toronto Maple Leafs a 6-5 victory over the London Majors.
The Leafs are one win away from their first IBL title since 2007. A final, winner-take-all game will be played tonight at Labatt Park.
Game 4 will go down as a classic. The Leafs fell behind early, trailed 4-0 as late as the 6th, then staged yet another Christie comeback to send the game into extras. A duel of relief pitchers ratcheted the tension with each inning, until Reilly blew the lid off the place.
A sizeable crowd settled into the Pits as the sun set on the waning hours of September. Bundled up against the cool evening, the local rooters were eager to see the series extended.
Justin Cicatello and Pedro De Los Santos started on the mound for Toronto and London respectively.
For the first four innings, the contest was exclusively between Cicatello and the Majors' Byron Reichstein, with Cicatello taking the worst of it. Reichstein hit him for leadoff home runs in the 2nd and 4th innings. The visitors added another run to take a 3-0 lead through four.
Meanwhile De Los Santos scattered three hits across the same span. The Leafs loaded the bases in the bottom of the 4th, but the visitors escaped the jam.
Adam Filmon doubled and Carlos Arteaga drove him in to give London a four run lead and raise the volume coming from the Majors' bench. The Leafs had yet to score and the remaining innings were becoming increasingly precious.
In the bottom of the 6th Toronto finally got to De Los Santos. Right fielder Marcus Knecht singled and stole second, then roared for home on a single by left fielder Chandler McLaren. An error moved McLaren to second, and he scored on a single by center fielder Connor Lewis. London's lead was halved, 4-2 through six.
Cicatello emptied his tank in the top of the 7th. After walking two batters, he was relieved by Dustin Richardson, whom manager Damon Topolie entrusted to see the game through to the end. If we only knew how far away the end still was.
Richardson surrendered an RBI double to Cleveland Brownlee to close the book on Cicatello. From then on, he began striking Majors out with purpose.
The Majors got messy in the bottom of the 7th and the Leafs took advantage. Catcher Justin Marra led off with a single and DH Reilly reached on an error. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Marra scored on a groundout by Knecht. After third baseman Johnathan Solazzo was hit by a pitch, shortstop Dan Marra doubled to bring Reilly home. The Majors clung to a 5-4 lead after seven.
As he had in the first game of the series, De Los Santos kept returning to the mound deep into the game. This night it was one inning too many. He walked Lewis to start the frame, then gave up an RBI single to Reilly that tied the game 5-5 and brought the Pits to its feet. De Los Santos was immediately relieved by Lucas Kelley, who escaped without any further damage.
The entire park now awaited the winning run. Richardson and Kelley swapped halves of a scoreless 9th to send the game into extras for the first time this series. From the 9th through the 12th, London managed just two hits while the Mapes scraped out three, but neither side could get a run across.
With the month of October once hours, now minutes away, Richardson must have looked like the Grim Reaper to Majors batters. Over seven innings, he struck out twelve of them.
Kelley could not match that output but he kept the Leafs off the board until his luck ran out in the 13th inning. With one out, Reilly stepped up to the plate and smoked a four-base hit that landed in the trees beyond left field.
I have watched the clip of this moment approximately 50 times, each time observing the reaction of a different character in the frame.
Standing on deck, Garrett Takamatsu knows the game is over and he triumphantly whips his bat aside. The Leafs bench rises in unison to watch the ball go. The fans seated behind home plate leap to their feet. Fans on the hillside jump up and down. Catcher Hayden Jaco remains in his squat until the ball clears the fence, then walks dejectedly to the visitors' bench. The Majors fielders stand stunned for a few seconds, then trudge off the field. The Leafs players bounce around home plate and the bullpen races in from left to join the welcoming committee.
The most mesmerising of all is Reilly. After his colossal swing, he drops his bat in front of the plate, takes a few steps towards first, then punches the sky with both fists. He rounds first and instead of slowly soaking in the moment, he accelerates around second and points to the Bushmen, who must have been losing their minds on the hillside with the rest of us. Rounding third, he simultaneously hi fives Topolie and hurls his batting helmet into the sky. Arriving home he jumps to stomp on the plate like a kid leaping and vanishing into a pile of Leafs.
The final pitch thrown at the Pits in 2021 produced its only walk-off home run of the year.
The IBL's Greatest of All-Time lived up to the moment and created a memory that will be talked about for years to come.
Once again, the home team wins and momentum shifts. There has been the slimmest ray of light between these two clubs. It has been a great series.
This postseason, the Leafs have overcome every challenge thrown in their path. With one game left to play they face their final, greatest one: win on the road in London, and bring the Dominico Cup home.
Toronto 6 13 2
W - Richardson (1-0, 0.00)
L - Kelley (0-1, 1.35)
The series concludes Friday night at Labatt Park in London, with a winner-take-all Game 5. First pitch is at 7:35 pm.
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