If Bowden Francis qualified, he would have the worst ERA of any major league starting pitcher. Yet, thanks to yet another truncated start, the Toronto Blue Jays right-hander is no longer eligible for the pitching leaderboards.
Francis, 29, allowed two earned runs over 3.2 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday and has now failed to go five innings in four of his last five starts.
After cruising into the fourth allowing only one hit and striking out four, Francis was one out away from finishing the inning. Instead what started as a stellar outing came undone as he either walked or hit five consecutive batters.
After losing the zone and issuing free passes to Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler, Francis plunked Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto with a 90-m.p.h. fastball to load the bases. Then after running the count to 3-2 against Bryson Stott, Francis missed twice more with the heater to walk in the first run and hit another batter to bring in the second.
He was relieved by lefty Brendon Little. Realmuto was then tagged out by fellow catcher Tyler Heineman after trying to score on a wild pitch to end the threat.
Francis now has a 6.05 ERA on the season to go along with 54 strikeouts and 27 walks over 64 innings.
The Tallahassee, Fla. native leads the American League with eight losses and is second in home runs allowed with 19. Toronto is 18-10 over the month, but has lost four of Francis's five starts in that span prior to Saturday.
All-time great Max Scherzer made his first rehab start with triple-A Buffalo on Friday, throwing 56 pitches over 4.1 innings with four strikeouts. Scherzer could return to the Blue Jays rotation after his second rehab outing with Buffalo on Wednesday if the right thumb inflammation that initially landed him on the injured list doesn't return.
The Blue Jays have used a variety of bullpen arms and Francis in two of their rotation spots, putting extra pressure on Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman.
