Wings' Darnell, May combine on no-hitter

Trevor May was part of a no-hitter Monday in a game that happened almost 1,600 miles away, and he didn't find out until his co-pilot in the matter texted him postgame.

"I told him what happened," Rochester left-hander Logan Darnell said. "He was pretty pumped."

Darnell picked up Monday where May left off on July 24, allowing only a ninth-inning walk over six frames as Triple-A Rochester finished off a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Durham Bulls in the completion of a suspended game.

May, a right-hander called up to the Majors last week, started the game in Durham, striking out three and walking a pair over three innings. The Twins' No. 8 prospect threw 25 of his 44 pitches for strikes before rain suspended the contest in the middle of the fourth.

The 24-year-old was promoted to Minnesota on Aug. 9 and made his Major League debut Saturday. Currently with the Twins in Houston, May received Darnell's message about the no-hitter moments before first pitch in Texas.

"He was asking me what guys did, said he was sorry not to be here," Darnell said. "We're really good friends. …. I was happy for him that he got called up. Sad he wasn't able to be here, but at the same time, he's doing his thing."

Darnell then took the hill Monday, 18 days after the game began. The southpaw struck out five and walked one, getting a game-ending double-play after walking No. 3 Rays prospect Hak-Ju Lee with one out.
The left-hander said he and other teammates actually teased May back in July when he was pulled after three hitless innings.

"We kind of gave him a hard time the first time he came out after three innings, made fun of him a little bit," Darnell said. "Said he had a no-hitter and the game was postponed, what if he was still throwing? 'Would you have done it?' kind of thing."

Darnell reflected briefly on all that razzing going into Monday, knowing he was taking over May's no-hit bid. That thought faded once he got into the game, but recurred around the seventh, when he saw the feat within grasp.

The amiable left-hander said he's usually jovial with teammates in the dugout when he's pitching, and so teammates shunned tradition and talked freely with him during the game. Starting in the eighth, infielder Deibinson Romero even began lobbing sunflower seeds at him to keep him loose.

"I'm kind of one of the guys who's real easy-going, likes to talk to people," Darnell said. "The guys were pretty good about talking to me. … They know I'm not really a guy to sit by himself and just think about it. I'm usually trying to stay loose and have fun. They were good. It was the same atmosphere that usually would've been kept."

It was the 22nd no-hitter in Rochester franchise history, the team's second combined no-no and the first since July 6, 2011, when right-hander

Jeff Manship combined for the feat with Jake Stevens, Kyle Waldrop and Jim Hoey.

The combined gem was the third no-hitter in the International League this season -- Columbus' Tyler Cloyd threw the most recent one July 30 after Durham's Mike Montgomery and Brad Boxberger combined to no-hit Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on April 26.

Darnell (6-5) lowered his ERA to 3.23 in the process. He threw 42 of his 68 pitches for strikes. The lefty has appeared in three Major League games this season, including two starts, striking out 12 over a dozen innings. He was the Twins' sixth-round pick in 2010 out of Kentucky.

The game resumed with Darnell on the mound and Chris Colabello and Daniel Ortiz coming in as defensive replacements. Darnell struck out Jeremy Moore in a 1-2-3 frame, caught Wilson Betemit looking to start a perfect fifth and went unscathed until his walk in the ninth. Justin Christian, who was the final out of May's three-inning outing, bounced into a game-ending double play in the ninth to finish the no-hitter.

"Fastball control was a really big thing," Darnell said. "I was able to throw inside and my change was good. I was keeping them off balanced.

"I think the difference between today and my past starts and past outings was the fastball command. I could go inside, and I was really able to keep the slider down and had the curve working. Really the fastball command. That was the big issue."

Rochester owned a 1-0 lead entering the resumption of the game, but tacked on a couple of insurance runs in the sixth and eighth when Colabello hit an RBI single and Josmil Pinto doubled home Doug Bernier.