Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis gave up an early homer but settled down and went on to strike out seven on Wednesday night against the Orioles at the Rogers Centre.
Blue Jays starter Bowden Francis gave up an early homer but settled down and went on to strike out seven on Wednesday night against the Orioles at the Rogers Centre.
There are plenty of job openings on the 2025 Blue Jays, and the remaining two months of this lost season will allow the team to get a good look at which young players might be able to play a significant role next year.
Bowden Francis was supposed to play a significant role this year, breaking camp as the club’s fifth starter, but a rough start to the season was followed by an injury, then a demotion.
The 28-year-old is back in the starting rotation, taking the place of the traded Yusei Kikuchi, and had the best start of his fledgling major-league career in the Jays’ 7-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre on Wednesday, though it did not begin well.
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Francis walked the first batter of the game, then served up Anthony Santander’s 33rd home run of the season, putting the Jays down by a pair of runs before an out had been recorded.
Things got much better from there as the right-hander gave up just two more hits through his five-inning outing.
The six-foot-five Floridian matched his career high with seven strikeouts — including five in a row — and the two runs allowed were a career best for any start.
Francis left with a 3-2 lead, thanks to a first-inning sacrifice fly by Spencer Horwitz and a pair of second-inning runs on a Brian Serven single and a throwing error by Orioles rookie third baseman Coby Mayo.
The bullpen couldn’t hold it, though, as Ryan Burr served up a go-ahead two-run blast to rookie Jackson Holliday in the seventh. It was the 20-year-old’s fourth home run in the week since his recall from Triple-A, and third against the Blue Jays. Baltimore tacked on three more in the eighth, including another Santander homer.
Leo Jimenez had three doubles and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extended his hit streak, over which he’s batting .493, to 19 games with a first-inning single. He also made his first two errors at third base since 2019.
Mike
Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and
host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on
Twitter: @wilnerness
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