Bowden Francis fell victim to a fastball-hunting Astros lineup in miserable 2024 debut

Granted, it probably caught a little too much of the plate, even for a 94-m.p.h. heater. It’s also worth noting that Alejandro Kirk was setting up away for that pitch to finish on the outer half. Still, there aren’t many hitters that can turn on pitches like that, especially in 0-0 counts.

The only issue, of course, is Francis missed his spot to someone who could.

Altuve’s single was one of the six hits against the 6-foot-5 hurler’s four-seamer. The next two also occurred in the first inning via a two-run shot from Tucker and a no-doubter off Yainer Diaz’s bat that travelled 435 feet onto the train tracks in left centre, amounting to a three-run frame.

But just like the heater to Altuve, neither of the ones thrown to Tucker and Diaz finished in dangerous locations. And yet, they each landed over the wall for a home run.

After swinging through a high-and-away fastball to begin the at-bat, Tucker adjusted and made sure not to miss it again, sending the next pitch he saw to the opposite field over the Crawford Boxes in left – which would’ve left the yard in 12 of the 30 big-league parks, including Rogers Centre.

Two batters later, Diaz somehow destroyed a four-seamer that was an inch or two, probably more, above the strike zone for his first of two bombs on the night.

On top of those mystifying home runs, Francis also endured a fair share of batted-ball misfortune with his fastball, primarily against centre-fielder Jake Meyers, who registered a pair of singles against heaters off the plate inside.

There was also the unfortunate ending to Francis’ rough night, as Jeremy Peña smacked a hanging slider into the ground that deflected off the mound and into centre field for a single, scoring the sixth and seventh runs against Toronto’s starter. Had it stayed in the infield, it likely would’ve been the second out of the sixth inning.

The harsh reality is that facing the Astros – a team that posted the second-highest run value (47.3) against four-seamers last season, behind only the Atlanta Braves (71.9) – wasn’t a favourable matchup for Francis.

His command was far from perfect, particularly with his slider that routinely missed over the heart of the plate and was responsible for two of his 10 hard-hit balls against. But sometimes you have to tip your cap to the other team, who, in this case, perfectly executed its game plan.

Francis will have a chance to recover, with his next turn lined up for this Sunday against the New York Yankees. But that’ll be another pivotal test, considering they’re off to a 5-0 start powered by an offence that features a 130 wRC+ – and produced the sixth-highest run value (33.5) versus four-seamers last season.

With that in mind, we may witness an increased usage of secondary weapons from the 2017 seventh-round selection in his next time out. He made a similar in-game adjustment in his season debut, throwing more breaking balls than fastballs in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings against Houston.

Any result versus the Yankees should be an improvement from Francis’ first attempt at starting in the majors. Assuming a few things break his way this time, he should be poised for a more respectable outing, one that looks closer to the pitcher who earned a 1.73 ERA and a 19.9 per cent K-BB rate difference in 20 appearances a season ago.

The Blue Jays need as many quality starts from Francis as possible amidst this early stretch against American League playoff contenders. He is all they have for now, with Alek Manoah still building up in Flordia and others like Yariel Rodriguez and Ricky Tiedemann developing their craft at Triple-A.