Guelph Royals trail as Game 4 suspended by rain
GUELPH – For the second time in their Intercounty Baseball League quarter-final playoff series, the Guelph Royals and Toronto Maple Leafs have had a game suspended by rain.
The fourth game of the best-of-five series was placed in a holding pattern at the end of the fifth inning, following an earlier two-minute delay and after playing a couple of innings in pouring rain. The rain didn’t let up and after about 45 minutes it was decided that it would not be resumed Tuesday night.
Toronto Maple Leafs 8 Guelph Royals 4
(Rain delay, 6th inning)
The game is to resume Wednesday at Hastings Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Game 5, if it’s needed, was scheduled to be played at Toronto’s Christie Pits Wednesday night, but is likely to be pushed back to Thursday should the Royals come back to win Wednesday night.
While Tuesday’s game would be considered finished in the regular season, IBL playoff games must go the usual nine innings (8½ if the home team is ahead).
The Leafs, who lead the series 2-1, led the game 8-4 when it was halted mainly due to the mound being too muddy for the pitchers. They had to dig mud out of their cleats after every pitch and all attempts to fix the mound were in vain.
As was the case in Game 1, the other game with a rain delay, both teams sent their aces to the mound – Claudio Custodio for the Royals and lefty Wilgenis Alvarado for the Leafs. While Custodio, who asked to start Tuesday’s game, pitched in the resumption of Game 1 Sunday at Toronto, Alvarado hadn’t pitched since being lifted in the opener last Thursday.
Custodio made it through the first, but things fell apart for him in the second when he couldn’t locate the strike zone, something that plagued the Royals throughout Tuesday and eventually led to manager Dino Roumel being ejected from the match. Custodio, who threw 13 pitches in the first inning, seven for strikes, tossed five strikes in 24 pitches in the second before being replaced by Yuki Narita.
Custodio hit one batter in the second and walked four others, two of them with the bases loaded. He also threw two wild pitches. Narita came in and tossed seven pitches, five for strikes, but the Leafs connected for a pair of hits to bring in four more runs (seven in all in the inning) to take control of the game.
The Royals had shot ahead first with a pair of runs in the first inning. They’ve held the lead at some point in each of the four games of the series. Leadoff batter J.D. Williams was hit by Alvarado’s second pitch of the game. After being looked at, Williams went to first and soon stole second before Conner Morro was walked. Custodio, serving as both pitcher and designated hitter, singled to score both runs.
The Royals added single runs in the third and fourth innings, but Toronto also scored a run in the fourth. With the rain falling in the third, Custodio singled home Malik Collymore with Guelph’s third run. Collymore had singled while stayed in the game as the DH.
Chris Robinson slugged a solo homer in the fourth for Guelph’s other run.
Both teams managed five hits in the game.
For the Royals, Custodio had two hits and drove in three runs while Robinson also had two hits and Collymore had the other hit.
Jose Vinicio, Jordan Castaldo, Garrett Takamatsu, Jesse Hodges and Ryan Dos Santos each had a hit for Toronto.
Custodio (1 2/3 innings), Narita (1 1/3 innings), Jared Kennedy (1 1/3 innings) and Ben Reid (2/3 of an inning) saw time on the mound for the Royals. Custodio yielded six earned runs off one hit and four walks while Narita gave up an earned run off three hits, Kennedy surrendered an earned run off a hit and two walks and Reid gave up a walk. Kennedy had two strikeouts while Custodio and Reid had one each.
Guelph pitchers threw 108 pitches and 47 of them were strikes. The counts were 37 pitches, 12 strikes for Custodio, 22 pitches, 12 strikes for Narita, 34 pitches, 17 strikes for Kennedy and 15 pitches, six strikes for Reid.
Alvarado pitched all five innings for the Leafs. He struggled in the first when he tossed 35 pitches, 16 strikes, but settled down after that as he threw 52 pitches, 34 strikes, the rest of the day. He gave up four earned runs off five hits and two walks and had five strikeouts.
A large contingent of spectators at the game stayed huddled under trees and in the grandstand until the game was officially suspended.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Guelph Royals trail as Game 4 suspended by rain
GUELPH – For the second time in their Intercounty Baseball League quarter-final playoff series, the Guelph Royals and Toronto Maple Leafs have had a game suspended by rain.
The fourth game of the best-of-five series was placed in a holding pattern at the end of the fifth inning, following an earlier two-minute delay and after playing a couple of innings in pouring rain. The rain didn’t let up and after about 45 minutes it was decided that it would not be resumed Tuesday night.
Toronto Maple Leafs 8
Guelph Royals 4
(Rain delay, 6th inning)
The game is to resume Wednesday at Hastings Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Game 5, if it’s needed, was scheduled to be played at Toronto’s Christie Pits Wednesday night, but is likely to be pushed back to Thursday should the Royals come back to win Wednesday night.
While Tuesday’s game would be considered finished in the regular season, IBL playoff games must go the usual nine innings (8½ if the home team is ahead).
The Leafs, who lead the series 2-1, led the game 8-4 when it was halted mainly due to the mound being too muddy for the pitchers. They had to dig mud out of their cleats after every pitch and all attempts to fix the mound were in vain.
As was the case in Game 1, the other game with a rain delay, both teams sent their aces to the mound – Claudio Custodio for the Royals and lefty Wilgenis Alvarado for the Leafs. While Custodio, who asked to start Tuesday’s game, pitched in the resumption of Game 1 Sunday at Toronto, Alvarado hadn’t pitched since being lifted in the opener last Thursday.
Custodio made it through the first, but things fell apart for him in the second when he couldn’t locate the strike zone, something that plagued the Royals throughout Tuesday and eventually led to manager Dino Roumel being ejected from the match. Custodio, who threw 13 pitches in the first inning, seven for strikes, tossed five strikes in 24 pitches in the second before being replaced by Yuki Narita.
Custodio hit one batter in the second and walked four others, two of them with the bases loaded. He also threw two wild pitches. Narita came in and tossed seven pitches, five for strikes, but the Leafs connected for a pair of hits to bring in four more runs (seven in all in the inning) to take control of the game.
The Royals had shot ahead first with a pair of runs in the first inning. They’ve held the lead at some point in each of the four games of the series. Leadoff batter J.D. Williams was hit by Alvarado’s second pitch of the game. After being looked at, Williams went to first and soon stole second before Conner Morro was walked. Custodio, serving as both pitcher and designated hitter, singled to score both runs.
The Royals added single runs in the third and fourth innings, but Toronto also scored a run in the fourth. With the rain falling in the third, Custodio singled home Malik Collymore with Guelph’s third run. Collymore had singled while stayed in the game as the DH.
Chris Robinson slugged a solo homer in the fourth for Guelph’s other run.
Both teams managed five hits in the game.
For the Royals, Custodio had two hits and drove in three runs while Robinson also had two hits and Collymore had the other hit.
Jose Vinicio, Jordan Castaldo, Garrett Takamatsu, Jesse Hodges and Ryan Dos Santos each had a hit for Toronto.
Custodio (1 2/3 innings), Narita (1 1/3 innings), Jared Kennedy (1 1/3 innings) and Ben Reid (2/3 of an inning) saw time on the mound for the Royals. Custodio yielded six earned runs off one hit and four walks while Narita gave up an earned run off three hits, Kennedy surrendered an earned run off a hit and two walks and Reid gave up a walk. Kennedy had two strikeouts while Custodio and Reid had one each.
Guelph pitchers threw 108 pitches and 47 of them were strikes. The counts were 37 pitches, 12 strikes for Custodio, 22 pitches, 12 strikes for Narita, 34 pitches, 17 strikes for Kennedy and 15 pitches, six strikes for Reid.
Alvarado pitched all five innings for the Leafs. He struggled in the first when he tossed 35 pitches, 16 strikes, but settled down after that as he threw 52 pitches, 34 strikes, the rest of the day. He gave up four earned runs off five hits and two walks and had five strikeouts.
A large contingent of spectators at the game stayed huddled under trees and in the grandstand until the game was officially suspended.
- Guelph Sports Journal