Bloop Hits and Bad Luck Doom Leafs in 7–4 Loss

By Noam Streiffer

The Maple Leafs dropped their second straight game, this time falling to the Guelph Royals on Friday night. The loss brings Toronto to just one game over .500 and 3.5 games behind the first-place Welland Jackfish.

It was a tough defeat for the Leafs, who played relatively well but were plagued by some unlucky bounces and soft contact that found holes in the outfield.

That misfortune was especially evident for starter Wilgenis Alvarado, who looked sharp through the first three innings, allowing just one run on a fielder’s choice by Carson Burns. However, a rough fourth inning—featuring a string of soft hits and infield dribblers—led to five runs and skewed his final line.

Catcher Justin Marra spoke highly of Alvarado’s outing postgame:

"He looked great… his last three outings he’s been throwing the slider with conviction, just a couple bad bounces." 

On the other side, the Royals started former Leaf Sebastian Rodriguez, who had a solid performance outside of two mistake pitches.

In the first inning, Rodriguez surrendered a towering two-run home run to Jhon Javier, followed by a solo shot in the third to Justin Marra on an off-speed pitch that caught too much of the plate, giving the Leafs an early 4-1 lead.

But that lead didn’t last. The Royals responded with five runs in the top of the fourth inning—helped by a string of bloop singles and tough bounces—to take a 6-4 lead.

Both starters were out by the fourth, turning the game into a bullpen battle. The Leafs bullpen gave up one more run in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to J.D. Williams, extending the Royals' lead to 7-4.

Gaku Ueda came on in the ninth for Guelph and struck out two to earn the save.

Up Next: A rematch with the Royals—this time in Guelph at David E. Hastings Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 PM on Saturday night.