For 2nd time in 3 weeks, Francis' bid for no-no ends in 9th

TORONTO -- Bowden Francis, meet Dave Stieb.

Stieb still stands alone on the mountaintop, the only pitcher in Blue Jays history to throw a no-hitter, but another near-miss on Sept. 11 left Francis standing on rare ground that only Stieb has known.

• Blue Jays no-hit history -- and close calls

Francis lost his no-hit bid in the ninth inning Wednesday on a leadoff home run to NL MVP candidate Francisco Lindor, a heartbreak that felt all too familiar. Just 18 days prior to that on Aug. 24, Francis carried a no-hitter into the ninth at Rogers Centre and also lost that on a leadoff homer to the Angels’ Taylor Ward. This time, Francis watched manager John Schneider walk to the mound and smirked as he handed him the ball.

“We did it again,” Francis told him.

The Blue Jays’ bullpen then stumbled, turning Francis’ incredible performance into a 6-2 loss to the Mets, but that won’t be what anyone remembers from Wednesday. It’s been 34 years and nine days since Stieb threw his no-hitter on Sept. 2, 1990, a moment that broke Stieb’s curse after a string of his own heartbreaks. In back-to-back starts on Sept. 24 and Sept. 30 of the 1988 season, Stieb lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth. That had to be the longest offseason in MLB history.

It’s barely happened since. Francis is now the first pitcher since Nolan Ryan in 1989 to lose two no-hit bids in the ninth inning in the same season. Jump in a time machine and tell this to someone in the middle of April, just after Francis had plummeted out of the starting rotation after only two starts.

“I can do this. I can start in the big leagues,” Francis said. “I feel like I’ve always believed that. I feel like a lot of people … I don’t know. A lot of guys lost hope early on this year. I didn’t. That’s how things go, everyone says, ‘What have you done for me lately?’ I feel like anyone can have two bad starts. I just feel like I’m getting my shot now and I’m trying to make the most of it. I’m trusting my stuff and trusting the people around me.”

Francis allowed 12 runs over those 8 1/3 innings, quickly straying from an exceptional camp that had left both coaches and fellow pitchers buzzing. Between Triple-A and his bullpen role in the big leagues, Francis stayed steady and continued to work on his splitter, which has become an integral piece of this new identity. Since returning to the rotation in late July, Francis has a 1.83 ERA over 54 innings. Wednesday was another exclamation point on it all.

“Hats off to Francis,” Lindor said. “He executed his pitches, he pitched extremely well and everything was going his way until the last pitch he threw.”

As Francis speaks, he’s comfortable to pause, take a breath, think. In the Minor Leagues, small things would send Francis unraveling. He’s worked on that like a muscle, now “wise beyond his years,” as Schneider puts it. That’s what has allowed Francis to bounce between roles and wait for this opportunity to come back around. There was no guarantee it would, but now he’s not letting go.

“What I love about him is that he’s had a really good stretch, but he’s not backing off,” Schneider said. “He’s not backing off of anything he’s doing in between starts. He’s not letting his guard down or thinking that he’s got things figured out. That’s the biggest thing I love about him.”

Francis is beloved by this pitching staff. He stood alongside Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt after leaving the mound, smiling. While the crowd cheered, Gausman pointed across the field to turn Francis’ attention to Sean Manaea, the Mets’ starter in the opposing dugout. Manaea was on the top step, hat in his hand, a nod of appreciation for what Francis had just done. While with the A's, Manaea no-hit the Red Sox on April 21, 2018, in Oakland.

“Something like that from a battler across the field, that’s something I’ll talk about forever,” Francis said. “That was really cool. Another guy to another guy, tipping his cap. That’s pretty cool.”

Francis was just three outs from something we all would have talked about forever. Perhaps we still will.

There have been 7,549 regular-season Blue Jays games. Only one has ended with a zero in that special spot on the scoreboard. Everyone is still chasing Stieb up that mountain. There’s an old tale that the view from the top is breathtaking, and outside of Stieb himself, Francis now knows the path better than anyone.