Sometimes you just have to tip your cap.

The last time Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Bowden Francis took the mound this past Saturday, he came within three outs of throwing a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels. Thursday he picked up right where he left off, holding the Red Sox hitless into the sixth inning before handing Boston a decisive 2-0 defeat.

Francis ultimately threw seven scoreless innings, helping ensure Toronto left town with three wins in five games.

With the loss Boston now falls 3.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Wild Card hunt.

Francis was ruthlessly efficient from the game’s first at bat. He only needed five pitches to finish a scoreless first inning and quickly dispatched almost every Red Sox batter he faced the whole way. Boston’s only baserunner through the first five innings came courtesy of an error, and Jarren Duran was almost immediately erased after he was caught trying to steal second.

Eventually Nick Sogard broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the bottom of the sixth, but by that point Francis had put together a stretch in which he’d allowed only one hit over his prior 14 innings dating back to Aug. 18.

Kutter Crawford did his best to keep pace, but the Red Sox starting pitcher couldn’t keep the Blue Jays at bay completely. Crawford allowed an RBI double off the Bleacher Bar door in dead center field to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the top of the third, and in the sixth he allowed back-to-back doubles to Addison Barger and Ernie Clement to make it 2-0.

He finished with two runs allowed on six hits and two walks over 6.2 innings, and though five of the hits he allowed were doubles, Crawford was still able to deliver his 12th quality start of the season.

Crawford got a nice assist from Rich Hill, who made his 2024 debut with two outs in the seventh and struck out Daulton Varsho to strand George Springer at second.

Hill, now 44 years old, has officially pitched in 20 big league seasons. He came back out for a perfect eighth and finished with 1.1 scoreless innings in his return.

The Red Sox also came within a hair of turning a triple play in the top of the ninth. After allowing a leadoff single and a walk, Greg Weissert made a diving catch on a shallow pop-up by Leo Jimenez, doubled Ernie Clement off at second and Davis Schneider just barely made it back to the first base bag to beat the throw from Ceddanne Rafaela.

But in the end, the Red Sox pitchers would have had to be close to perfect to beat Francis and the Blue Jays on Thursday.

The Blue Jays starter allowed just the one hit and no walks over seven shutout innings, and he was only at 70 pitches when he was lifted in favor of left-hander Genesis Cabrera for the eighth inning. Cabrera threw a scoreless eighth and closer Chad Green came on and finished the job in the ninth for his 16th save of the season.

The Red Sox had one last chance with a man on and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Tyler O’Neill grounded out to end the game.