After carrying a no-hitter into the ninth inning of his last start, Bowden Francis will take the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays in the finale of a four-game series against the host Boston Red Sox on Thursday.
Francis (7-3, 4.02 ERA) held the Los Angeles Angels hitless for eight innings in a 3-1 Toronto win on Saturday, losing his bid for the second no-hitter in Blue Jays history on Taylor Ward’s leadoff homer in the ninth.
The 28-year-old notched a career-high 12 strikeouts en route to his third straight win and will aim to continue the streak in his first career start against Boston, which has won back-to-back games in the series after a 3-0 win Wednesday.
Francis has three career relief appearances against the Red Sox, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings.
“He’s battled for a lot of years and has gotten to this point, so I didn’t want to take anything away from him,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said, reflecting on Francis’ last outing. “(Pitching coach) Pete (Walker) and I were on the same page. It was his until he gave up a hit.”
Francis has worked 22 innings across his past three starts, going 3-0 while striking out 27 and allowing just five hits, two runs and three walks.
He gave up 12 runs in his first 8 1/3 frames of the season — his first two career starts.
“We all know that at the beginning of the season, things weren’t going his way,” Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. “The last four or five outings, he’s been incredible. (Saturday) was unbelievable.”
Boston received its own stellar pitching performance on Wednesday, as Brayan Bello worked eight innings for the first time in his career, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out nine.
The Blue Jays were shut down by Bello in their second loss after a five-game win streak, though Addison Barger’s double moved his hitting streak to six straight games. The team’s streak of 16 games in a row with a home run came to an end, however.
After Bello capped his sensational night, Tyler O’Neill delivered a clutch two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth — his fifth in nine games this season against Toronto — to give the Red Sox insurance.
Otherwise, Wilyer Abreu’s first-inning RBI single stood tall.
“That was fun to watch,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “(Bello’s) best outing in the big leagues. Against a team that has given him trouble, he was able to keep them off balance.”
Looking to follow up Bello’s dominant outing will be Kutter Crawford (8-11, 4.19), who has tough-luck losses in his past two starts. He allowed just five runs on five hits over a combined 10 1/3 innings against Arizona and Baltimore.
Crawford held the Diamondbacks to five innings of two-run ball on Saturday. The line looks solid, but it was not enough for the righty himself.
“For the most part, I felt like I competed pretty well — every single pitch. I just wasn’t in the zone enough,” he said.
Crawford is 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in five appearances (four starts) against Toronto.
Before Wednesday, the only other Boston starter to pitch at least eight innings this season was Tanner Houck in an April 17 shutout of Cleveland.
The Red Sox have totaled 13 shutouts, tied for the most in MLB.
