One other Bowden Francis no-hit bid ends in heartbreaking vogue for Blue Jays

TORONTO – Dave Stieb’s no-hitter nonetheless stands alone in Toronto Blue Jays historical past, though Bowden Francis’s second near-miss within the span of 4 begins means that he might but in the future be a part of him.

The 28-year-old right-hander, who on Aug. 24 threw eight hitless innings towards the Los Angeles Angels earlier than Taylor Ward’s leadoff homer within the ninth, once more misplaced his bid with three outs to go, this time damaged up by a Francisco Lindor solo shot in what completed as a 6-2 New York Mets victory.

Francis was up 0-2 within the depend when Lindor, an MVP contender within the Nationwide League, turned on a 91.9-m.p.h. heater up and away and despatched it over the wall in proper area, eliciting a loud groan from the Rogers Centre crowd of 29,399 on Wednesday.

In that method, the ending was eerily just like the bid towards the Angels, however he was at 117 pitches final time, whereas this time he was at pitch 111, leaving him higher positioned to complete off the outing.

The sport unravelled as soon as he left, as Chad Inexperienced allowed a Jose Iglesias infield single earlier than walks to Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo. Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly then put the Mets forward 2-1. Starling Marte added one other sacrifice whereas Francisco Alvarez tagged Genesis Cabrera for a three-run homer later within the inning to increase New York’s lead.

That made for a dismal ending to an in any other case outstanding day wherein Francis as soon as once more displayed the flexibility to confound opposing batters, even along with his fastball averaging 90.8 m.p.h., 2.4 m.p.h. off his common, whereas topping out at simply 93.3.

The one no-hitter in Blue Jays historical past stays Stieb’s gem Sept. 2, 1990 at Cleveland, which got here after he misplaced an ideal sport and two different no-hitters – in back-to-back September 1988 outings – with two out within the ninth.

There have been a number of different near-misses for the Blue Jays together with arguably probably the most dominant outing in group historical past on Aug. 8, 2010, when Brandon Morrow struck out 17 batters however misplaced his no-hit bid with two out within the ninth on an Evan Longoria infield single.

Like Francis, Dustin McGowan additionally misplaced a no-hit bid on a leadoff hit within the ninth, a Jeff Baker single for Colorado on June 24, 2007.

Throughout this present run for Francis, he additionally opened an Aug. 29 begin with 5.1 no-hit innings at Boston whereas on Aug. 12 at Anaheim, the one hit towards him was a third-inning homer by Mickey Moniak in seven innings.

Since rejoining the Blue Jays as a starter following a stint at triple-A Buffalo on July 29, Francis has been a special pitcher from the one who started the season within the rotation however shortly discovered himself bouncing between roles round a stint on the injured record.

Underpinning the higher outcomes has been using a much more efficient splitter and a shift in utilization from what had been principally a fastball-curveball repertoire.

Towards the Mets, when he allowed only a stroll and two hit batters earlier than the Lindor dwelling run, he threw 57 fastballs in his 111 pitches regardless of the dip in velocity, complementing it along with his slider (19), splitter (17), curveball (11) and sinker (8).

The combination induced loads of innocent contact and on the uncommon events somebody did sq. the ball up, his defence was there behind him, with Davis Schneider notably making a leaping catch into the left-field wall on Harrison Bader’s smash to open the sixth.

Earlier than the sport, supervisor John Schneider as soon as once more praised the changes Francis had made, together with to his work between begins, with the splitter being an addition “that performs a giant a part of it.”

“The truth that the cut up carries the zone the way in which it does – there aren’t many within the filth, they’re referred to as strikes, too,” he continued. “Not being predictable. That pitch is difficult to hit and it’s arduous to find. So once you’re finding it, you’re normally fairly good. He’s sort of utilizing the curveball to both steal a strike, get forward or get again into counts, after which sinker-slider. It’s a very totally different combine than what he had earlier out of the ‘pen. Each time he throws a pitch, you go, good time for that. You possibly can see him determining how his stuff works collectively.”

Like towards the Angels practically three weeks in the past, that carried him to the verge of a second Blue Jays no-hitter, an achievement seemingly simply as elusive as the primary.