It took them awhile, but the Toronto Maple Leafs finally shook off the pesky Burlington Twins Thursday night.
One night after a huge upset loss at home in the opener of their best-of-seven opening round Intercounty Baseball League series, the Leafs erupted for three runs in the eighth and four more in the ninth to down the Twins 11-4 in Burlington.
The series is now tied 1-1, with game three Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dominico Field at Christie Pits.
Burlington led 4-2 at one point on Thursday, but the Leafs finally got their bats going and unlike Wednesday, got some decent pitching to even the series and take back home field advantage.
“We really had to battle but we finally got going in the late innings and that was enough,” Leaf owner Jack Dominico said. “We had some good pitching tonight too so now we’re right back where we want to be.”
Jon Waltenbury led Toronto’s attack with three hits, two runs scored and two RBI, while Jordan Castaldo had two hits, scored twice and drove in two more to pace the 12-hit parade.
Damon Topolie and Sean Travers both added two hits, a run scored and an RBI and Brian Ivan also drove in a pair of runs for the Leafs with a bases loaded walk and a bases load hit by pitch.
Toronto starter Drew Taylor went six innings. He surrendered four runs on six hits with four strikeouts and four walks, but it was reliever Roberto Suppa who got the win with 1 1/3 hitless innings of relief with three strikeouts and three walks.
Chris Cox came on in the eighth to escape a bases-loaded jam and got the last four outs for the save.
Burlington starter Luis Castillo went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Reliever Kyle Bolton was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk in his two innings.
Jamie Lekas hit a grand slam home run in the second inning for the Twins to account for all their runs, as Burlington managed just six hits and hurt their cause with four errors.
Game four through seven in the series, if needed, are scheduled next Tuesday through Friday.