By Kaitlyn McGrath
For the second time in four starts, Bowden Francis had the chance to become only the second Toronto Blue Jays pitcher to throw a no-hitter. But twice, in an eerily similar fashion, Francis’ chances to write his name in the record books were thwarted by a leadoff home run.
On Aug. 24, Francis fell three outs short of a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels after Taylor Ward homered to begin the ninth inning. Most pitchers never get that close to a no-hitter once, let alone twice — let alone twice in the space of a month. Yet on Wednesday, against the New York Mets, Francis got a do-over.
Despite feeling fatigued and pitching without overpowering stuff, the 28-year-old right-hander had a no-hitter against the Mets through eight innings. A big difference between this outing and his one against the Angels, however, was strikeouts. Francis had a career-high 12 strikeouts against the Angels, but against the Mets, his average velocity was down about 2 mph and he had struck out only one batter while throwing 108 pitches.
Still, Toronto manager John Schneider said, “I don’t like to mess with a chance at history.” So like last time, Francis had the ball until he gave up a hit.
With the Blue Jays leading 1-0, Francis had to retire the top of the Mets’ order in the ninth if he wanted to complete the no-no on his second attempt.
He got ahead of the Mets’ leadoff hitter, Francisco Lindor, 0-2. He said he planned to continue to attack with fastballs, but Lindor hit his third pitch, a fastball, over the right-field wall for a game-tying home run, eliciting groans from the crowd of 29,399.
When he saw the ball go over the wall, Francis thought to himself: “Again.”
“With that many pitches, I just felt like I had to empty the tank with heaters and let them put the ball in play like I was doing all day,” Francis said. “It wasn’t one of those days where I felt like I was going to get a bunch of swing-and-miss, so I felt like I needed to attack the zone.”
After Lindor tied the game, the Mets blew it open, adding five more runs off the Blue Jays’ bullpen in the ninth to win 6-2.
Afterward, the Blue Jays’ focus was on another outstanding performance from Francis, who is ending the season on a historic run and positioning himself as a piece of the 2025 rotation.
“I don’t know how many other guys lose a no-hitter in the ninth on a homer twice in one season, but he was outstanding,” Schneider said.
Dave Stieb remained the only Blue Jays pitcher to throw a no-hitter, though Francis did join Stieb as the only other pitcher in franchise history to have multiple no-hit bids spoiled in the ninth.
The two near no-hitters are more evidence that Francis is a legitimate major league starter, despite a slow start to his season in which he was bumped from the opening day rotation after two starts and briefly sent to the minors.
Since Francis returned to the rotation Aug. 7, he has been one of the best starters in baseball. With tweaks to his pitch mix, including using an improved splitter, Francis is 4-1 with a 1.26 ERA over his last six starts. His 0.40 WHIP — walks plus hits per inning pitched — is the lowest mark over a six-start span in MLB history. During this current run, Francis has been an MLB player of the week and player of the month.
“I think at this point, you look and you say, OK, this is a guy who gets it, and this is a guy that is reliable,” Schneider said. “This is a guy that is continuing to evolve and continuing to want to get better. And that’s just everything you could ask for in a starting pitcher.”
Francis is quiet and meditative about his growth as a pitcher, often talking about learning more from hard times than successes. As such, Schneider said he believes the right-hander is uniquely equipped to process the emotions of losing out on a no-hitter twice in a month.
“He’s mature, he’s really, really wise beyond his years and I think he does a really good job of looking at the big picture of things,” Schneider said. “I think he will take a lot of positives out of this. And he’ll probably laugh a little bit at the fact that he’s lost two in the ninth inning on home runs. But I just can’t speak enough to how he’s evolved and how much he’s taken from this opportunity. It’s just been so cool to watch.”
Asked about what he had learned after losing two no-hit bids in the ninth, Francis mused about potentially altering the way he approached the final three outs, should he have a third crack at the feat.
“I’ve gotten beat twice with fastball, so I feel like maybe from here on out, when I get this deep, I got to, kind of, empty the tank on some of the off-speed stuff, or really mix it up,” Francis said. “But it’s something I don’t want to just like change just because it’s the ninth inning. I got to stick with my plan, but it’s also I got to learn that, I don’t know, I can’t keep getting beat right there in that situation.”
Francis always believed he could be a major league starter; now, he is convincing everyone else.
“I feel like I’ve always believed that, though I feel like a lot of people kind of lost hope early on in this year,” he said. “I didn’t, but that’s how things go. Everyone says, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ I feel like anyone can have two bad starts. I just feel like I’m getting my shot now, and I’m trying to make the most of it.”
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