Blue Jays’ rotation has no room for bad days

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TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen phone rang in the third inning Tuesday. Alex Bregman and Trevor Story lashed consecutive first-pitch singles off Bowden Francis before Toronto’s dugout called to warm a new pitcher.

The Boston Red Sox had four early runs on the board when reliever Dillon Tate took off his sweater to toss. Before Tate threw a single warmup pitch, Wilyer Abreu put up three more runs on a towering homer to centre.

Abreu’s final blow was Boston’s fifth homer of the contest, more than the Blue Jays hit in their previous 10 games combined. Francis closed out the frame, finishing with seven earned runs in three innings pitched to push his season ERA from 3.58 to 5.28. It was a bad day that ended with a 10-2 loss, spoiling Daulton Varsho’s season debut. With Toronto’s offence scuffling, the Blue Jays’ pitching staff is afforded no room for bad days.

Toronto entered the bottom of Tuesday’s third inning down seven runs. For a team that’s scored seven or more runs just twice in 29 games, it seemed insurmountable. Just four years ago, the 2022 Blue Jays posted 41 comeback wins (second most in MLB), including erasing a seven-run deficit on Opening Day. This is not that team.

The 2025 Blue Jays have five comeback wins, on pace for two more than their 25 from a year ago. The largest deficit Toronto has erased for a win this year is three runs, and the Blue Jays are 1-12 when allowing five runs or more. So, Toronto’s pitching staff is burdened with little breathing room, even if their manager says they don’t feel the pressure.

“It sucks that it kind of snowballs a little bit,” manager John Schneider said. “But no, these guys, they get it. You know that when it’s their day to pitch, they’re just trying to pitch. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing offensively or anything like that.”

The Blue Jays entered Tuesday sitting 16th in team ERA (4.06). The top four in the rotation, Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Francis, had a collective ERA of 3.74 before Tuesday night. With little offensive support, their record in decisions was just 7-9. Francis’ loss Tuesday made it 7-10.

Francis entered his start against the Red Sox with three or fewer earned runs allowed in each of his last 16 outings. His fastball and splitter formed a stellar combination to keep hitters off balance, each holding opposing batters to under a .235 average this year. Tuesday, four of Boston’s five homers came against Francis’ two primary offerings.

“I think it was just one of those days where they hit my mistakes right away,” Francis said. “Didn’t miss. Tip the cap, I think they just executed when I didn’t execute.”

Tuesday’s outing continued a rare slide for Toronto’s rotation, with three straight starters allowing at least four runs. After allowing four runs to the New York Yankees on Sunday, Bassitt brushed off the impact of pitching in front of a struggling batting order. He put blame for the loss entirely on himself, in a game Toronto’s lineup registered just one run.

“Pardon my French,” Bassitt said. “I don’t give a s— about the offence when it comes to how I’m pitching.”

But, stepping on the mound to pitch in support of an offence that averages just 3.34 runs per game is a tightrope walk. Bad pitching performances end games early.

Sideways statlines such as Francis’ are going to happen, even the best rotations in baseball fall flat sometimes. The Blue Jays’ solution isn’t to erase the occasional starter misstep; the answer is more runs.

Toronto is searching for offence — it keeps Schneider up at night, the manager said before Tuesday’s game. Maybe Anthony Santander will heat up, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s Tuesday homer will spark something or Varsho’s return can lengthen the lineup. But until the Blue Jays find some runs, the rotation has little room for bad days.

“Feel like a lot of guys are trying to do too much,” Varsho said. “But just one of those things where you kind of got to grind through it.”

(Photo of Bowden Francis: Tara Walton / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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