Royals win 3-2
Series tied 1-1
The Guelph Royals landed a one-two punch on the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, and won Game 2 of their quarterfinal series by a score of 3-2.
Angel Villalona and Yomar Concepcion (above) delivered the goods for the home side at Hastings Stadium. The Royals' third baseman led his club with three hits including a two-run home run in the sixth. The homer broke a string of goose eggs on the scoreboard and gave Guelph their first lead of the game. Concepcion went the distance, throwing 160 pitches for a complete game win.
Concepcion and Zach Sloan dueled on the mound for most of the game, and it was the Leafs who grabbed an early lead.
In the top of the second, right fielder Zac Orchard drew a walk. DH Garrett Takamatsu was up next, and he took a high pitch off the helmet. Takamatsu was okay, and two men were aboard. Centerfielder Connor Lewis drove in the first run of the game with a two-out single that brought Orchard home.
Sloan carried the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth. After striking out sluggers Jon Waltenbury and Josh Garton and giving up a single to Sean Reilly, Sloan got tagged by Villalona's two-run dinger. The rattle of a million cowbells reverberated around the ballpark as the Royals took a 2-1 lead after six innings.
The Leafs battled right back in the top of the second. Lewis smacked a one-out triple to deep centerfield. The next man up was shortsop Aaron Hornostaj, who grounded sharply to second. Lewis took off for home, but was thrown out at the plate. Hornostaj ended up at second on the play. He stole third, and then scored on a single by second baseman Dan Marra. That tied the score at 2-2.
Other than the home run to Villalona, Sloan was pitching a masterpiece. Through six innings he had shut down a lineup of big bats, while the defense behind him kept stamping out any sparks that threatened to turn into rallies. It looked like the Leafs would escape another jam in the bottom of the seventh, but some invisible trickster -- be it Loki, Nanabush, or some other unseen force -- threw the game into chaos.
Jeff MacLeod led off with a single, and was awarded second on an attempted steal when Sloan was called for a balk. He then moved to third on a sacrifice. Ethan Mohan worked a 3-0 count before being walked intentionally. Runners on the corners now. Waltenbury was up next, and he drilled a grounder to first, where Damon Topolie snagged it and touched the bag. He then wheeled and threw to second, looking to nail Mohan for the third out. Instead, Topolie's throw was redirected by Some Invisible Hand. The ball drifted left, and nailed one of the umpires square in the back. Mohan was safe at second, and MacLeod crossed home plate to give the Royals a 3-2 lead.
Coach Peter Topolie exploded off the Leafs' bench with the fury of a million Earl Weavers. He appeared to argue that the umpire had blocked the throw to second by being in the basepath. The umpire countered that it was not so. The argument went back and forth and the game ground to a halt. Coach Topolie continued to press his case for a couple of minutes, storming back and forth between umpires before finally getting tossed. He was still foaming when he left the field.
Further confusion ensued when the Leafs signalled to the bullpen. Marek Deska made it all the way to the mound before the umpires intervened and said that Sloan needed to remain in the game. I have no idea what that was all about, but Sloan intentionally walked the next batter before Deska relieved him to get out of the inning and end the chaos.
The Leafs still had six outs to work with, but Concepcion hunkered down. The best the Mapes could muster was a couple of walks in the ninth before Guelph's starter sealed the 3-2 win with his twelfth strikeout of the game.
Toronto 2-4-0
Guelph 3-6-0
W - Concepcion (1-0, 2.00)
L - Sloan (0-1, 4.05)
BOXSCORE
NOTE: Eric Penkala and Cory Graham are providing live webcasts of each Leafs playoff game and archiving them on YouTube. The channel is Toronto Maple Leafs IBL Webcast.
Here's their complete coverage of Game 2.
Game 3 of this series will take place at Christie Pits later this afternoon. First pitch is at 2:00 pm.
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