Bowden Francis brilliant performance overshadowed by Blue Jays anemic offence
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Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis may have had his best performance of the year so far, however his teammates lack of run production was the bigger story once again.
Francis has struggled so far this season, however yesterday was a different story.
Francis tossed five-plus scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night, but the most notable zero in the right-hander's pitching line was in the home run column.
"Credit to Bowden Francis. He made it work last night, turned in his best start of the year and gave the Blue Jays a chance to win."
Although Toronto fell, 2-0, to the Rangers at Globe Life Field, leaving Francis with a no-decision, Tuesday's start was only the third in 11 this season in which Francis didn't allow a homer. His 15 home runs allowed are tied for the most in the Majors.
Francis gave up 17 homers last season in almost twice as many innings (103 2/3) as he has thrown this year (55 1/3), but he had no such problems Tuesday. Although his outing was brief, at only 75 pitches, he struck out six, walked one and allowed only three hits, all singles.
Bowden Francis brilliant performance overshadowed by Blue Jays anemic offence
The other notable zero was in the runs column. Toronto has scored four runs in its last five games, matching its fewest in such a span since August 1990.
The Blue Jays were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
Six Texas pitchers held the Blue Jays to four hits, with Luke Jackson (1-4) pitching the eighth for the win and Robert Garcia pitching the ninth for his third save in four opportunities.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drew a fifth-inning walk, extending his on-base streak to 27 games. That's the longest of Guerrero's career and the longest current streak in the majors.
Both teams have had trouble scoring runs, however Josh Jung's two-out single scored pinch runner Sam Haggerty in the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie, and then the Rangers second run scored when Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk threw the ball into left field when attempting to pick Wyatt Langford off third base.
A tough game to watch indeed. Toronto needs to score runs no matter how good the pitching has been. This brand of baseball is getting harder to watch everyday.
Tell us what you think in the poll below?
| POLL | ||
MAI 28 | 93 ANSWERS Bowden Francis brilliant performance overshadowed by Blue Jays anemic offence What do the Toronto Blue Jays have to do to improve their offence? | ||
| Trade for a bat | 38 | 40.9 % |
| Fire the hitting coach | 8 | 8.6 % |
| Fire the manager | 26 | 28 % |
| Too early to tell | 21 | 22.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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