Home Woes Continue as Leafs Drop Eighth Straight at Christie Pits

By Noam Streiffer

The Leafs’ struggles continued in an 11–2 loss to the Kitchener Panthers. It's the Leafs’ third loss in a row and their eighth straight home loss of the season as they fall to four games below .500.

Luis Florentino got the start for the Leafs and looked good through three innings, allowing just one run. But fatigue got the better of him, and he gave up five runs in the fourth inning.

On the Kitchener side, it was Yadian Martinez who threw six strong innings of two-run ball in a much-needed performance for the very busy Kitchener Panthers.

Toronto got on the board first with an RBI single from Chad Picton that brought Ryan Dos Santos around to score, giving the Leafs an early 1–0 lead. Unfortunately, this would be the Leafs’ only lead of the night.

Kitchener bounced back with a run in the third before blowing things open in the top of the fourth with a five-run inning to chase Florentino out of the game.

Some shaky defense and a wild pitch in the top of the fifth allowed another run to score for the Panthers.

Toronto would tack on another run in the bottom half of the inning on a Dennis Dei Baning RBI single. Dei Baning has been one of the lone bright lights for the Leafs during this tough stretch.

Kitchener combined for four more runs in the seventh and eighth innings thanks to some timely hits and more defensive miscues from the Leafs.

Danny Garcia came in to shut things down in the bottom of the ninth and did just that, recording a 1-2-3 inning and a strikeout to secure the win for Kitchener.

Up next: The Leafs’ long homestand continues with a matchup against the Hamilton Cardinals on Saturday night. First pitch is at 7:30 PM.