The Mississauga Twins dealt the Toronto Maple Leafs Intercounty Baseball League pennant hopes a big blow on Saturday afternoon.
The Twins scored two runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to beat the Leafs 7-3 in Mississauga, as the Leafs slipped a game and half behind the first place Brantford Red Sox in the standings with just four games to play.
Toronto hosts the Red Sox Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dominico Field at Christie Pits, and still has two road games in Brantford before the regular season ends next Monday, so all hope for first place is not lost. But Saturday’s loss to the Twins (15-15) could turn out to be a very costly one, as the Leafs are also tied for second place with the Barrie Baycats (19-11).
“At this time of the year every loss is a big one and we just couldn’t get it done today,” Leaf owner Jack Dominico said. “Now we’re going to have to win just about every game left if we want to finish first.”
Things started well for the Leafs (20-12), as they scored single runs in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. But the Twins battled back with their mid-innings rally and added another run in the eighth to secure the win.
Mississauga rapped out 17 hits, with every player in the starting lineup getting at least one. Kyle Rosen led the way with four hits, two RBI and a run scored, while Jeff MacLeod had three hits, an RBI and a run scored.
Elliot Shrive, Branson Joseph and Carlos Garcia all had two hits and Ian Choy drove in a pair of runs for the Twins, who also got six solid innings from starter Adam Kudryk.
Kudryk allowed three runs on six hits with one strikeout and one walk before Adam Banski finished up with three hitless innings of relief, with three strikeouts and three walks, to earn the save.
Toronto starter Drew Taylor lasted 6 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on 13 hits with one walk. Mark Sikorski finished up, allowing one run on four hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Kyle Degrace and Kyle Morton both hit solo home runs for the Leafs, but Toronto could manage just six hits in dropping their second straight after an 8-6 loss in Barrie on Thursday night.
Leafs are in Brantford next Friday.