Angels narrowly escape no-hitter in third straight loss to Blue Jays

It was nearly a historic day for Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis, who lost his no-hitter after eight innings but still earned the win as the Angels lost 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

Francis allowed a leadoff homer to Taylor Ward in the ninth and was immediately pulled after tossing 117 pitches (84 strikes) in the effort. Ward's blast ended up being the sole hit on the day for the Angels, helping them avoid their second shutout of the road trip.

Los Angeles struck out 13 times and walked just once, with Francis delivering 12 punchouts. Kevin Pillar, Logan O'Hoppe and Niko Kavadas each struck out multiple times, with Pillar striking out in all four of his at-bats. He is now 1-9 across the first three games of his return to Toronto, where he spent his first 695 career games with the Blue Jays.

Angels' starter Carson Fulmer (0-5) took another loss as he worked six innings and earned a quality start. The right-hander struck out eight batters and walked two across 88 pitches (65 strikes). Los Angeles starting pitchers have now put together three consecutive solid performances to open the series, but have not come up with a victory so far.

The Angels are now 54-76 and 27-36 on the road. They sit in last place in the AL West, 1 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics. The squad will look to avoid being swept on Sunday as they complete the second leg of their 10-game road trip.

Francis just misses history

The 28-year-old came within three outs of tossing the second no-hitter in Blue Jays history as he struck out a career-high 12 and earned his seventh victory of the season. After winning American League Player of the Week honors last week, he provided another memorable outing.

Francis has now allowed just two earned runs across his last 22 innings, tallying 27 combined strikeouts throughout the process. Earlier this month on August 12, he tossed seven innings at Angel Stadium and allowed just one run in a Blue Jays victory. He has allowed just five hits since that date.

In the ninth, Taylor Ward's solo home run would end his no-hit bid as the ball barely snuck over the wall in left-center field.

Francis would exit to a loud ovation from the crowd, who could do nothing but applaud the effort from their starting pitcher in the win.

It was the 17th home run of the year for Ward, who snapped an 84 at-bat drought without a longball. The blast helped the Angels avoid being no-hit for the first time since 1999, keeping alive the longest active streak without being no-hit in baseball.

More offensive woes

Saturday's day at the plate for Los Angeles was the latest example of a lineup that has struggled to consistently put runs across the board. The Angels have now scored three or less runs in 10 of their last 12 contests, with their record being 2-10 during that span. 

So far in Toronto, the bats of players such as Zach Neto and Logan O'Hoppe have cooled off considerably. Neto finished the series against the Royals a combined 3-11 (.273), while he has gone just 1-9 against the Blue Jays so far. As for O'Hoppe, he went 4-12 (.333) in Kansas City, but is now 0-7 against Toronto.

At 3.95 runs per game this season, the Angels are tied for the fourth-lowest scoring offense in the MLB this season and the third-lowest in the American League. There are only six teams in baseball who average less than four runs per game. Los Angeles has now scored less than four runs on 60 occasions this season, with their record in those games accumulating to 12-48 (.200). When the lineup has been able to produce at least five runs this season, the team's record jumps to 37-14 (.725).

There are only four hitters that were present in Saturday's lineup hitting .250 or better this season, while there were also only four players with a slugging percentage above .400. The Angels will need to find away to increase the firepower of their bats if they want to pick up some more wins before the end of the road trip. In a series where the starting pitchers have delivered respectable outings, the lineup has not been present to provide the run support.

Fulmer shows promise

Carson Fulmer failed to earn his first win as a starter, but still did a respectable job holding the Toronto lineup in check. Despite getting most of his innings earlier on in the season through relief, he has now made eight consecutive starting appearances for the squad.

Fulmer got off to a shaky start in the first, mainly thanks to a big-time error that he committed attempting to throw Daulton Varsho out at first on an athletic diving play.

The ball would have rolled foul, but instead the Blue Jays ended up with a runner on third and one out. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Joey Loperfido each contributed RBI doubles in the inning to put Toronto up 2-0 as they grabbed the early momentum. 

After allowing three hits in the opening frame, Fulmer allowed only four more through his final five innings as he struck out five in the process. He exited after allowing just two earned runs, matching his season high with eighth strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 4.15, helping to erase some of the damage in what has not been a good August. Across the month, he has worked to a 5.09 ERA and a record of 0-3. 

The Angels and Blue Jays will wrap up their four-game series at 10:37 a.m. Sunday as Toronto looks to sweep the season series between the two clubs (currently 6-0 Toronto). Los Angeles will start left-hander Tyler Anderson (10-11, 3.46 ERA) against Toronto's right-hander Kevin Gausman (11-9, 4.24 ERA).