Quarterfinal Game 1: Bedeviled in the Witching Hour

QF Game 1: Toronto Maple Leafs at Brantford Red Sox - August 3, 2016

Red Sox win 9-8 (10 innings)

Win as a team, lose as a team.

There was no pitchers duel last night at Arnold Anderson Stadium, nor was there a free-swinging slugfest. 

Instead, there were two ballclubs -- the Toronto Maple Leafs and Brantford Red Sox -- grinding it out base by base, pitch by pitch.

After a four-hour, extra innings marathon that ended well after midnight, the Sox emerged with a 9-8 victory to take Game 1 of this quarterfinal series.

The Leafs held an early edge in the game, and there were four lead changes before the witching hour struck and Toronto's luck ran out in the bottom of the 10th.  With two men on and two out, pinch hitter Dennon Koziol hit a single to shallow centerfield to bring home the winning run and burst the Mapes' hopes of grabbing a one-game lead before playing two at Christie Pits.

Players and fans will grab a few hours of sleep and maybe put in some half-assed hours at work before Game 2 goes tonight.  The playoffs pause for no one.

Game Recap:

The night was hot.

As everyone packed into Cockshutt Park sweated it out waiting for the sun to set, the Brantford Red Sox and Toronto Maple Leafs prepared to play Game 1 of their quarterfinal series.  Seven game winner Nate Forer was on the mound for the hosts against five game winner Justin Cicatello.

Toronto got things going right away as Forer grazed leftfielder Grant Tamane with his first pitch of the game.  Two outs later, third baseman Sean Mattson singled and Tamane moved to third.  A single by DH Johnathan Solazzo drove in Tamane and the Leafs were off to a 1-0 lead.

Brantford grabbed two in the bottom of the 2nd, after first baseman Nic Burdett singled and catcher Ricky Murray hit a two-run home run.  2-1 Red Sox through two. 

After a scoreless third, Toronto jumped all over Forer with four in the fourth (sportswriters lay awake at night composing sentences like that).  Rightfielder Matt Blair-Brown led off with a walk, and centerfielder Connor Lewis singled.  With Blair-Brown on third, Tamane singled to drive him in but Lewis was out at second on the play.  A walk to first baseman Jon Waltenbury and a single by catcher Justin Marra followed, and the bases were loaded. Mattson then smacked a double to centerfield that got past Chris Dennis, allowing all three baserunners to score.  That made it 5-2 Leafs after four innings of play.

The Brant Sox got two back in the bottom of the 5th.  Second baseman and Doctor of Style Benjamin Bostick singled, then moved to third on a single by Dennis.  Third baseman Tyler Patzalek was hit by a Cicatello pitch to load them up.  A single by left fielder Josh McCurdy cashed in Bostick, and then a sac fly by DH Dan Jagdeo brought Dennis in to score.  5-4 Leafs after five.

The Leafs loaded the bases against Forer, Tanner Guindon and Matt Betts in the top of the 6th, but were unable to add any runs.  

Jose Vasquez came in to pitch for Brantford midway through the 7th and the Leafs stranded two more men on the bases.

In the bottom of the 8th, Burdett led off with a single.  Shortstop Brandon Dailey followed with another single, and then rightfielder Jeff Hunt hit a double to score them both.  That made it 6-5 Brantford and the Leafs were suddenly down to their final three outs.

The Leafs responded to the challenge with a three-run outburst in the top of the 9th.  Trevor Bayless came in as the 5th Red Sox pitcher on the night.  Shortstop Ryan White welcomed him with a roaring triple to start the inning.  After a groundout by Blair-Brown, Lewis hit a single.  Tamane followed with an RBI single that scored White.  After a strikeout by Waltenbury, Justin Marra slapped a single to right that scored Lewis.  Tamane then scored on a passed ball and it was 8-6 Leafs with the Sox down to their final three outs.

Cicatello handed the ball over to Adam Garner to start the bottom of the 9th.  Garner hit Patzalek with a pitch and gave up a single to McCurdy.  That brought Adam Marra out of the bullpen.  Marra walked Dennon Koziol (at bat in place of Jagdeo) and manager Damon Topolie was out with the hook right away.  Solazzo, who had been DHing this game, moved to the pitcher's mound.  He walked pinch hitter Lee Delfino to bring in one run.  A two-out sac fly by Dailey brought in another run.  Brantford had tied the score 8-8 and the game headed to extras.

Toronto had a chance to retake the led in the top of the 10th.  After Solazzo grounded out to start the inning, second baseman Dan Marra singled and took second on an error by Hunt. Marra moved to third on a wild pitch by Bayless.  A second wild pitch saw Marra dash for home as catcher Murray went scrambling for the ball.  He tossed it back to Bayless.  Both he and Marra appeared to arrive at the plate at the same time, but the umpire ruled in favour of Brantford and Marra was out.

In the bottom of the 10th, Dennis grounded to first but was safe on an error by Waltenbury. Patzalek walked next.  With two outs, Koziol broke the impasse with a single to shallow centerfield.  That allowed Dennis to score and Brantford won a 9-8 FINAL in 10 innings.

Toronto 8-16-1

Brantford 9-12-2

W - Bayless (1-0, 13.50)

L - Solazzo (0-1, 0.00)

BOXSCORE

The Leafs are down 0-1 to start the series, but can bounce back when Game 2 goes tonight at 7:30, back home at Christie Pits -- the most dangerous ballpark in the IBL.