Pierre Deschenes threw a complete game two-hitter as the London Majors took the first game of a doubleheader 2-0 at Christie Pits on Sunday afternoon.

He took a no hitter into the seventh inning but a one out single to right by Dan Gibbons spoiled the bid.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing you want to keep the no hitter going but it’s not that big of a deal to me,” the right-hander said. “It wasn’t what I was striving for at that point.”

The winning run was scored in top of the sixth when Chris Chambers launched a two-run shot to right field.

Toronto starter Drew Taylor (4-1) was the hard luck victim. Taylor was excellent, commanding his fastball and curve to keep the Majors off balance. He went the distance allowing two earned runs on five hits while fanning four and walking two.

On Thursday night the Leafs cranked out 22 hits against Oshawa but in game one the Toronto (9-5) bats were cold in the brilliant sunshine of Christie Pits. Two base- runners reached second base through six innings until Gibbons reached in the seventh. Rob Gillis had the other hit.

Deschenes (1-1) went seven innings allowing two hits, striking out five and walking two.

London (7-7) scattered five hits but managed to bunch a pair together in the crucial two-run sixth. Alan Cattrysse led the way with three hits while Kyle Dreiling and Chambers had the others.

The Majors had a chance to open the scoring in the second inning with two men on and one out but a fielders? choice and a strike out ended the inning.

Taylor wriggled off the hook again in the fourth when he allowed the first two men to reach but a fly ball to centre and two infield pop ups ended the frame.

Meanwhile, Deschenes was cruising along facing two over the minimum through four innings. He allowed a pair of walks in the second inning but got Kyle Morton to fly out to right field to end the inning.

That would be the last time the Leafs got a base runner on until the sixth.

Deschenes worked efficiently, spotting his fastball and curve to both sides of the plate and frustrating the off balance Toronto hitters.

“I showed up at the field and it felt like it was one of those days you don?t have the gas in the tank,? Deschenes said. “So, I figured from then on it would be one of those games where I would have to hit my spots.”

“He wasn?t making any mistakes over the middle of the plate,” Leafs catcher Damon Topolie said. “He was just hitting corners all day. He had a really good pattern. He kept going outside, inside and we were looking for mistakes but he didn’t make any.”

Good defence kept Deschenes no hitter alive through four when second baseman Vince Burke went deep into the hole to pick a hot shot grounder by Tony Lewis and throw him out. Lewis, clearly frustrated, slammed his helmet into the ground.

When another pitcher is spinning a gem it keeps the opposing pitcher locked in to keep the game close.

Taylor retired the side in the fifth, punctuated with a strike out of Majors catcher Mason Reilly.

“Every time I got out there, whether we?re up by a bunch or down by a bunch I approach it the same way,” Taylor said. “I don’t want to give them any leeway at all. I try to stay pretty level. So I took the same approach I always do.”

Deschenes kept on chugging, setting down six straight through the fifth and sixth.

The Majors broke the ice in the top of the sixth when Chambers crashed a Taylor fastball over the fence after Taylor allowed a two-out hit to Cattarysse.

“Unfortunately I made one big mistake,” Taylor said. “We were trying to stay away from him and I left it over the plate and he took it for a ride. It was supposed to be low and away but it drifted back over the plate.”

Deschenes pitch a flawless sixth and headed into the bottom of the seventh in pursuit of his first no-hitter.

“I’ll be honest, I started thinking about it when we had two out in the top of the seventh,” Deschenes said. “I was about to go back in for the seventh when I realized that I had a no hitter.”

Deschenes found himself in a jam following the Gibbons single. Gillis hit a line drive single to centre and the Leafs had runners at first and second but Raul Borjas flew out and Kyle Morton grounded to second to end the ball game.

“At that time I had one out and all I was looking for was a ground ball double play,” Deschenes said. “All I figured I had to do was to get a good breaking ball on the inside corner that a guy would roll over on.”