What a performance by Bowden Francis, who was 3 outs away from a no hitter today 👏
Bowden Francis pitched seven strong innings of one-hit ball in the Blue Jays’ 2-0 win over the Red Sox
Photo credit: © David Butler II - USA Today
Aug 29, 2024, 21:45 EDTUpdated: Aug 29, 2024, 21:59 EDT
It’s Bowden Francis’ world, and we’re all living in it.
In 47 years of Blue Jays baseball, there has only been one-hitter thrown in franchise history, all the way back in 1990. Well, Bowden Francis was on the cusp of throwing the second in team history on Saturday, giving up a home run to fall three outs short of the milestone.
It was a terrific outing that saw him strikeout 12 in 8+ inning pitched. Well, he threw a no-hitter into the sixth inning of Thursday’s game. Unfortunately, a single ended the bid, but he managed to finish seven strong innings with one hit allowed and five strikeouts. Funnily enough, he only threw 77 pitches in this game, much more efficient than Saturday’s game.
Over his last four starts, Francis has thrown 29 innings (all 7+ innings) with two earned runs allowed for a 0.62 ERA. Moreover, he’s struck out 33% of batters while allowing just 3.1% of batters to reach with a walk. Just incredible.
Pretty special.. 😉 #BlueJays #Sportsnet @Bowdenpoint0
Expanding the scope since he was recalled, Francis has pitched 40 innings while giving up seven earned runs for a 1.58 ERA, along with a 28.6 K% and a 3.6 BB%. Francis may be their #3 or even #2 in the rotation heading into next season if he can continue to pitch this well.
The Blue Jays won the game 2-0. Both runs came via a double, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 38th double of the season to make it 1-0 in the top of the third, while Ernie Clement hit his 19th double of the season to make it 2-0 in the top of the sixth.
Highest career OPS at Fenway Park by a visiting player (minimum 200 plate appearances) Frank Robinson 1.188 Lou Gehrig 1.089 Babe Ruth 1.082 Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 1.065 #TOTHECORE
Diving into the stats…
Last Wednesday, the Blue Jays played one of the longest non-extra inning games of the season against the Cincinnati Reds. On Thursday, the game against the Red Sox lasted 2 hours and 12 minutes, their sixth-shortest nine inning game of the season.
In total, the Blue Jays had seven hits, five of which were doubles. Brian Serven had two doubles, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Ernie Clement, and Addison Barger each hit a double. Guerrero Jr. also had a single, as did Clement.
After just 77 pitches, Bowden Francis was pulled for Génesis Cabrera as there were two left-handed batters upcoming (and the fact Francis threw 117 pitches on Saturday). Cabrera allowed a hit and struck out a batter, while Chad Green pitched a scoreless inning for his 16th save of the season.
With the win, the Jays moved their season record to 66-70, winning three of the five games against the Red Sox. Toronto is now 7.5 games back of the final Wild Card and have a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins starting on Friday. If they sweep that series, they’ll be 4.5 games behind the final Wild Card spot with 23 games to go and a whole lot of teams to jump.
Kevin Gausman is expected to start Friday’s game that starts at 8:10 PM ET.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.