All Wet

Maple Leafs Weekly Recap - May 29 to June 2, 2024

The Toronto Maple Leafs dropped a couple of games and saw a third one get rained out this week.

Ryan Dos Santos (L) and Charlie Towers watch another one leave the ballpark on Wednesday night, as the Leafs fell to the Barrie Baycats.

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost their Wednesday Nighter to Barrie, but that didn't matter.

They travelled to Hamilton and got thumped, but that didn't matter.

It was all building up to Sunday.  That was all that mattered in Week 3 of this IBL season.  The Guelph Royals would be coming to town -- excuse me, the undefeated Guelph Royals.  Travelling with them would be a familiar face, former Leaf Garrett Takamatsu.  For reasons of convenience, Tak made the jump to another team for 2024.

No hard feelings, you gotta do what's right for yourself.  That didn't mean he'd get a hero's welcome back to Christie Pits.  For weeks, the Bushmen had been promising a torrent of heckling would greet the man with the famous flow.

But it wasn't meant to be.  Sunday morning rains wiped out the entire IBL slate of games.

Tak's return will be pushed back to another day.

Here is a recap of a shortened Week 3 in Toronto Maple Leafs baseball.

Wednesday, May 29, 2024 - Barrie Baycats at Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs starter Sam Greene has had better Wednesday nights than this one, lasting just 1.2 innings against the Barrie Baycats before leaving the game with an arm issue.

When you visit Ukraine, they give you a loaf of bread.

When you visit Christie Pits, they give you a home run.

Such was the generosity of spirit offered by the umpiring crew on a chilly Wednesday Nighter in Toronto.

A walk to the Barrie Baycats' Canice Ejoh opened the game.  The next batter Adam Odd hit a fly ball to left that landed foul to every set of eyes except those of officialdom.  As starting pitcher Sam Greene, his Maple Leafs teammates and everyone else at the ballpark expressed disbelief at the call, Odd rounded the bases and came home the recipient of a giftwrapped two-run homer.

It was that kind of night.  The Baycats continued scoring early and often en route to an 11-3 victory.

To make matters worse, in the second inning Greene came out of the game with an arm injury.  He has been dealing with a bicep issue since the end of last year and it flared up again during the game.  It might keep him out of action for a couple of weeks.

The Leafs' relief corps of Max Lanoue, Julian Tymochko, Julian Valdez and Greg Carrington carried the remaining seven plus innings.

All told, five home runs left the park, three of them hit by the visitors.  The Leafs' scoring all came via the long ball.  In the fourth inning, third baseman Johnathan Solazzo hit a solo shot, and first baseman Jordan Castaldo hit a two-run bomb in the fifth.

Barrie starter Cesar Rosado pitched five innings for the win.  Ryan Lacasse pitched four scoreless innings to end the game and earn a save.

Barrie 11 11 0

Toronto 3 4 3

W - Rosado (2-0, 3.48)

L - Greene (0-1, 10.60)

S - Lacasse (1)

BOXSCORE

Friday, May 31, 2024 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Hamilton Cardinals

A display of historic club logos at Bernie Arbour Stadium, Hamilton. (FILE PHOTO)

Friday night, the Leafs drove down the QEW and collided with the IBL's hottest team.

The high-flying, high-scoring Hamilton Cardinals ran up an early lead and never looked back.

The Leafs led, briefly.  In the top of the first inning, right fielder Ryan Dos Santos singled in a run to give his side a 1-0 lead.  

The run came at the expense of Cardinals starter Brett Lawson, a former Leaf.  His opposite on the mound was Dean Christidis, twenty years his junior (1979 vs 1999).  On this night, age would triumph over youth.

In the bottom of the first, the Redbirds went to work and they tagged the southpaw for six runs over three innings.  

Reliever Marek Deska pitched the fourth and fifth innings.  He too was tagged for six runs.

Dos Santos struck again in the top of the fifth with a two-run single that gave him three RBIs on the night.

Lawson lasted five innings on the mound.  Drew Mainprize relieved him with a scoreless sixth.

In the top of the seventh, down 12-3, the Leafs staged a comeback.  The first three batters got aboard and then first baseman Julian Johnson singled in a pair of runs.  Next man up was centerfielder Connor Lewis, who doubled in a run.  That ended Mainprize's night, and things snowballed on reliever Nick Davies.  A combination of walks, hit batters and wild pitches put three more runs on the board and it was a 12-9 ballgame midway through seven.

That would be as close as the Leafs got.  Hamilton scored three more runs off reliever Chris Nagorski and made off with a 15-9 FINAL.  Lawson got the win, Christidis took the loss.

Toronto 9 13 6

Barrie 15 17 1

W - Lawson (1-0, 2.70)

L - A. Marra (0-2, 6.13)

BOXSCORE

Sunday, June 2, 2024 - Guelph Royals at Toronto Maple Leafs

This game was rained out and will be rescheduled.

Three weeks into the season, the Maple Leafs hold a 2-7 record and that puts them in seventh place, 4 1/2 games behind the undefeated Guelph Royals.  

The week ahead:

Friday, June 7 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Hamilton Cardinals, 7:35 pm at Bernie Arbour Stadium

Saturday, June 8 - Toronto Maple Leafs at Guelph Royals, 1:00 pm at Hastings Stadium

Sunday, June 9 - Welland Jackfish vs Toronto Maple Leafs, 2:00 pm at Christie Pits