2024 AFC Preview: One key storyline for every team
To count the number of elite QBs in the AFC, you need both hands. To count the contenders, you need more playoff berths than the NFL offers up. And storylines? It’s got plenty of those, too. Emily Sadler highlights one to watch for each AFC team.
BOSTON — Once was impressive enough. To do it again — that’s another level of performance.
Pitching at Fenway Park just five days after taking a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Angels, Bowden Francis was again at his best. This time, he took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Boston third baseman Nick Sogard broke it up with a single, but Francis still completed seven innings of scoreless work, allowing just one hit on the way to a 2-0 win for the Toronto Blue Jays.
In five starts this month, Francis has now allowed only nine hits and four walks in 34 innings while striking out 39. He has an ERA of 1.06 over that span — by far the best of his MLB career, and one of the best stretches by any MLB pitcher this season.
“This stretch has been incredible,” manager John Schneider said before the game. “What he’s done has been fantastic and hopefully he can continue it down the stretch.”
As has been the case all month, Francis’s splitter was central to his success Thursday. He threw 18 of them against the Red Sox, striking out Triston Casas with it twice. And on this night it moved even more than it did against the Angels, averaging 37 inches of vertical drop — a little more than three feet per pitch.
Just as remarkably, Francis needed just 70 pitches to get through seven innings. He attacked the strike zone consistently, avoiding walks and challenging the Red Sox with his stuff.
If the no-hit bid had remained intact, the Blue Jays could have easily let Francis continue — he threw 117 pitches on the weekend and was said to have no restrictions ahead of this outing — but they pulled him for relievers Genesis Cabrera and Chad Green, who handled the last two innings without incident.
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This stretch of dominance by Francis has helped the 66-70 Blue Jays put together their best month of the season, but even beyond 2024 this performance is significant. The 28-year-old broke camp in the Blue Jays’ rotation this spring before pitching his way to the minors, yet this success offers a reminder of what Francis can do to help the 2025 team.
Offensively, the Blue Jays did just enough to support Francis thanks to RBI doubles from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ernie Clement. In the third inning, Guerrero Jr. drove in Brian Serven, who had two hits, while Clement drove in Addison Barger in the sixth.
After making a catch against the Green Monster to end the seventh inning, Joey Loperfido appeared shaken and was removed from the game for Davis Schneider.
Having taken three games from the Red Sox at Fenway this week, the Blue Jays now head to Minneapolis where they’ll visit the Twins this weekend.
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