Balls could keep flying out of park when Blue Jays host Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians and host Toronto Blue Jays have combined for six homers while splitting the first two games of their weekend series.

With Cleveland’s Tanner Bibee and Toronto’s Bowden Francis — who have both been quite generous in serving up home runs this season — on the mound, the ball could be flying out of the park often during Sunday’s rubber game.

Entering play Saturday, Francis (2-4, 5.28 ERA) led the majors with 11 home runs allowed. Right behind is Bibee (2-2, 4.36) with nine long balls surrendered.

Francis yielded four solo homers and a three-run shot, plus three other hits over just three innings, in Tuesday’s 10-2 home loss versus Boston. All but three of the right-hander’s home runs allowed have come while posting a 6.00 ERA in three home starts, where he’s 2-1 in 2025.

“I think it was just one of those days where they hit my mistakes right away,” said Francis, who became the third Blue Jay to allow five homers in a game.

Francis has not served up a homer while yielding two unearned runs in four career relief appearances, spanning 9 2/3 innings, versus Cleveland since the start of the 2023 season.

The Guardians’ Daniel Schneeman had two homers entering Saturday’s contest but clubbed an eighth-inning solo shot to put his team on the board. Then he hit a go-ahead ninth-inning grand slam, with two out, that sent Cleveland to a 5-3 win — its fourth victory in five games.

Schneeman, who has nine homers in 97 career games, is 7-for-18 in his last seven contests.

Bibee, meanwhile, has yielded just three runs over 13 innings of his last two starts — both Guardians’ wins. Two of those runs came via solo homers, including Tuesday, where he allowed four other hits and struck out five without a walk over his season-high seven innings of Cleveland’s 2-1 home victory against Minnesota.

“That definitely felt more like me than past other starts,” said Cleveland’s current ace.

“I feel like a lot of us say that ‘solo homers are not going to beat you.’ If you give up two solo homers in a game, great. Who cares … I’m not going to complain about that.”

Bibee, though, has allowed seven homers, while giving up 13 runs and 14 hits over 9 2/3 innings in losing his last two road starts.

He gave up solo homers to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer during Cleveland’s 5-2 win at Toronto on Aug. 25, 2023. Those are the only runs in 13 innings he’s given up while winning both career starts against Blue Jays — both in 2023.

Guerrero and Springer are a combined 5-for-12 against Bibee. With two hits Saturday for Toronto, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, Springer is batting .482 in 13 home games this season.

Meanwhile, Guardians star Jose Ramirez is 1-for-2 with an RBI versus Francis. However, it’s possible Ramirez will miss a second straight game after he suffered what’s being reported as a mild sprained ankle sprain during Friday’s 5-3 loss.

“I think we dodged a big bullet,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said of Ramirez’s injury status. “Nothing major. We want to be cautious. … We want to make sure that (Ramirez) is close to 100 percent as possible (when he returns).”

–Field Level Media