Blue Jays' Bowden Francis falls apart in loss to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA — It was no secret that this Bowden Francis start was going to be under the spotlight.

As the Toronto Blue Jays have changed the course of their season and put together an extended stretch of strong play, Francis’s starts have become sort of a black hole. The right-hander has been struggling for nearly two full months and the pressure is certainly mounting on him.

That pressure is only going to grow following Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Max Kepler hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning off Toronto reliever Chad Green to ignite the crowd of 43,711 and give the Phillies their second straight win over the Blue Jays.

While Francis didn’t get tagged with the loss, his outing will nonetheless be scrutinized. The right-hander opened the game by inducing some loud outs to Phillies hitters but then settled into a groove in the second inning. In total, he retired the first 11 of 12 batters he faced and was on track for a performance that could’ve released the pressure valve.

Then, with two outs in the fourth inning, everything fell apart.

In spectacular fashion.

Here's the sequence from Francis before he was lifted for left-hander Brendon Little: Walk, walk, hit by pitch, walk, hit by pitch.

“Just felt like [I] got out of rhythm,” Francis said following the game. “Kind of lost feel. And then it just kind of snowballed.”

The right-hander said he re-introduced a two-seam fastball to his repertoire on Saturday in an effort to offer a different look to opposing hitters. He used the pitch successfully early on in the outing before losing control of it in the fourth, resulting in the pair of hit batters.

Francis, along with Blue Jays manager John Schneider, pointed to some successes in the first three frames that the right-hander can build off, including an improved delivery, the location of his fastballs and splitter and his ability to fight back when being down in the count.

Fortunately for the Blue Jays, Francis’s fourth-inning struggles resulted in just two Phillies runs. However, it was yet another blow for the 29-year-old during a season in which he's had to confront many.

Francis has pitched into the sixth frame just once in his last 10 starts and his 6.05 ERA is tied for the fourth worst of any pitcher in baseball with a minimum of 60 innings.

Manager John Schneider said prior to the game that his confidence in Francis hasn’t waned because of how level-headed the hurler is on a day-to-day basis.

“He was the same way when he was rolling last year,” Schneider said. “He's present with what he's doing and has confidence in himself. I think you start to worry if a guy's kind of like turtling up in a corner. He's not doing that and he's open to working and seeing what he can do to get better.”

Following the contest, the manager doubled down on his support when asked whether he wants to see Francis work through his struggles at the big-league level.

“Yeah, we need him,” replied Schneider. “And he's working his ass off with [pitching coach] Pete [Walker]. He's got to take what he did before the walks there in the fourth inning and kind of build off of it. We're going to need him to keep making adjustments.”

How long a runway Francis will have to make those adjustments is quickly becoming the most pressing question surrounding the 38-32 Blue Jays. The club is 2-8 in Francis’s starts since April 23 and as they try to stack wins in a weak American League, the Blue Jays could benefit from removing Francis from the rotation or at least consider being creative with his starts and deploying an opener in front of him.

The current plan clearly isn’t working and the Blue Jays’ starting rotation has essentially been operating with three pitchers due to Francis's struggles and Max Scherzer's absence, which has in turn forced the club to regularly roll with a bullpen day that requires plenty of manoeuvring.

There could at least be help on that front coming soon as Scherzer rejoined the Blue Jays Saturday morning following his 56-pitch, 4.1-inning rehab outing in Buffalo the previous night and felt good, according to Schneider. The right-hander, who's been sidelined due to a thumb issue, was experiencing "normal" next-day fatigue, said the manager, who added that that "this is a good sign."

"We always kind of take it like a day at a time, really, after he throws," said Schneider. "But, I think this would probably be a little bit better than what has been. So, don't want to speak for him — I know he always leaves a little caveat to be determined — but so far, so good. No red flags."

Scherzer is expected to throw a side session on Sunday and then pitch for the Bisons on Wednesday in Worcester, where he'll aim for 70-75 pitches.

While the Blue Jays’ rotation is being pressed, its members have been vocal in their support for Francis, most notably last week when Chris Bassitt said he felt the organization needed to let him work through his struggles without removing him from the starting five.

Francis was asked how such support has helped him navigate his struggles. He paused to collect himself before responding.

“Kind of speechless when you talk about it like that,” said Francis. “It's been a battle, but they have been there for me. It's been huge.

“Just the way they have my back when I'm grinding [at] my [lowest]. The staff, everyone. There's a lot of big hearts here. And they help you through moments like these.”