After pitching a no-hitter into the ninth inning in his last start, Bowden Francis will take the mound on Thursday for the Toronto Blue Jays’ final game of a four-game series at home to the Boston Red Sox.
Francis (7-3, 4.02 ERA) held the Los Angeles Angels hitless in eight innings in a 3-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday, but a leadoff homer by Taylor Ward in the ninth inning prevented him from recording the second no-hitter in Blue Jays history.
The 28-year-old has recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts during the three-game winning streak and will look to extend that streak in his first start against Boston, who are on a series winning streak since Wednesday’s 3-0 victory.
Francis made his third relief appearance against the Red Sox, pitching 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
“He’s been fighting for so many years and he’s come so far, I didn’t want to take anything away from him,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Francis’ final outing. “(Pitching coach) Pete (Walker) and I were on the same page. It was his until he got hit.”
Francis has a 3-0 record over 22 innings in his last three starts, striking out 27 batters while allowing just five hits, two runs and three walks.
He gave up 12 runs in his first 8 1/3 innings this season, the first two starts of his career.
“We all know he had a rough start to the season,” said Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. “The last four or five games he’s been great. (Saturday) was unbelievable.”
Boston’s Brian Bello pitched an impressive eight innings for the first time in his career on Wednesday, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out nine batters.
The Blue Jays lost for the second time after five straight wins, but Addison Berger’s double extended their hitting streak to six games. However, the team’s 16-game home run streak was ended.
After Bello capped off his sensational night, Tyler O’Neill gave the Red Sox the lead with a game-winning two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning, his fifth in nine games against Toronto this season.
Meanwhile, Willier Abreu’s RBI single in the top of the first inning stood out.
“It was fun to watch,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “It was (Bello’s) best game in the major leagues. He was able to confuse them against a team that had been giving him a hard time.”
Following Bello’s dominant performance, Cutter Crawford (8-11, 4.19) is expected to follow after unlucky losses in his past two starts, giving up just five hits and five runs in 10 1/3 innings against Arizona and Baltimore.
Crawford held the Diamondbacks to just two runs in five innings on Saturday, and while the lineup looked solid, it just wasn’t enough for the right-hander himself.
“Generally, I felt like I did pretty well with every pitch, I just wasn’t focused enough,” the pitcher said.
Crawford is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in five games (four starts) against Toronto.
Prior to Wednesday, the only Boston starter who had pitched at least eight innings this season was Tanner Hack, who pitched a shutout win against Cleveland on April 17.
The Red Sox have a total of 13 shutouts, which is tied for the most in MLB.
–Field Level Media
