Maple Leafs drop fourth straight in blowout loss to Hamilton

By Rob Vona

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Hamilton Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Dominico Field by a score of 12-1, dropping their fourth consecutive.

It was the Cardinals who opened the scoring in the fourth inning, a booming double off the centre-field wall from right-fielder Dennis Dei Banning gave the visitors the 1-0 lead. 

After centre-fielder Brandon Nicholson cashed in another run with a base hit up the middle in the sixth inning, the Maple Leafs finally cracked Takaki Eguchi as right-fielder Marcus Knecht drove in a run on a single down the left-field line. 

The floodgates opened as Hamilton poured on 10 runs in the final three innings. 

The top of the seventh saw them score four runs, highlighted by an RBI single off the bat of first baseman Tanner Rempel that scored two. 

Now leading 6-1, it was Rempel who struck again in the eighth inning with a double that would score two more runs.

He scored just one batter later on a double from third baseman Josh Niles. 

Rempel would go on to finish with two hits and four RBI on the day. 

With the lead now at nine, the Cardinals manufactured two more runs in the top of the ninth inning, capitalizing on a wild pitch and an RBI single from Laine Renaud. 

It was Hamilton’s starter, Eguchi who stole the show today, improving to 5-1 on the year after allowing just one run over five-and-one-third innings pitched, while the Maple Leafs utilized six different pitchers. 

The Maple Leafs will look to bounce back on Thursday night at 7:35 p.m. went they take on the Barrie Baycats at Vintage Throne Stadium.