Trouble With the Ninth

 

One of the more palatable developments of the Blue Jays' second half, aside from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s impressive hot streak and the come-up of Will Wagner [before he got hurt], has been the rise of Bowden Francis. With a vacancy in the rotation thanks to Yusei Kikuchi's move to Houston, Francis has been getting more and more starting reps after a season of serviceable long relief work. In 11 starts, Francis has gone 5-3 with a 3.14 ERA and 63 strikeouts. 

However, there's been this alarming trend recently for Francis, one that's gotten him attention in a good way, even if it's not what he'd been hoping for. On two separate occasions this season, Francis has taken a no-hitter into the ninth inning and immediately given up a run. Two separate occasions. One was against the Angels, which involved 12 strikeouts and mounting tension before Francis simply ran out of steam. The second time was most recently, where Francis very nearly pulled off the feat of no-hitting the Mets on September 11th, which is a lot like making Nick Castellanos strike out four times on the day of a national tragedy. And then right when it looks like Francis is gonna get away with it, he gives up a Lindor homer in the ninth. That's twice. 

And in addition to that, you can add 3 other starts this season where Francis gave up less than 1 run or less than 3 hits. That is five overall, all since August. All from a guy who was really struggling early on as a starting option and had to wait til somebody dropped to be a factor again. Whatever Bowden Francis figured out, he's more locked in that ever, and the Jays are hoping this is gonna be a normal thing. The downside is he hasn't pitched SINCE the Mets game, and while he's probably just needed extra time cause he keeps going far into games, hopefully he's not overtaxing himself this early.

The Jays are at least becoming a very nice spoiler in the waning months of the 2024 season. Bo Bichette is back, but Leo Jimenez did extremely well filling in for him. Ernie Clement and Spencer Horwitz might be answers going forward. Chad Green has been surprisingly potent in the ninth. Vlad's looking at a 100 RBI year with 30 homers to boot. Hell, Jose Berrios has 16 wins. For a Jays team that isn't going to the playoffs, that's still great.

This season for the Blue Jays, thanks to at the very least a stronger back half, won't be a complete disaster. There's ways these guys can pick back up and go again next year. I dunno if they're the complete competitor they'd been for the majority of this decade so far, but they're far from a disappointment. 

Coming Tomorrow- Maybe it's because the bar's so low, but a veteran pitcher doing well in Miami, which seems like something that couldn't happen.