Darnell flirts with no-no, takes shutout

Logan Darnell felt his no-hit bid disappear. Literally.

After a single bounced off his foot in the seventh inning, the Twins' No. 26 prospect went on to toss a five-hit shutout as Triple-A Rochester topped Syracuse, 9-0, on Monday at NBT Stadium.

"I don't think there's any easy way to lose [a no-hit bid] if you're in the seventh, any of them are tough," Darnell said. "I was just hoping that I still had a chance to get it and throw him out, but that's the way it works."

Prior to losing the bid, the 26-year-old southpaw retired the first 15 Chiefs in order. Rick Hague led off the sixth by reaching on a fielding error by third baseman Jose Martinez, but it didn't faze Darnell (4-1). He got Dan Butler to fly out and Jose Lozada to ground into a double play.

"I mixed in all four of my pitches really well. But I was really just as aggressive as possible," Darnell said. "Just because this is my third or fourth start since I changed to starting from relieving, so I was just trying to get through as much game as possible the whole time."

Quickly moving through the innings, the University of Kentucky product inched closer to history when Emmanuel Burriss stepped up to the plate with one out in the seventh.

"I got down 2-0 on him and I was just trying to throw a strike on him; that's really all it was. I was just trying to throw something over to get back in the count and he had a good hit right up the middle," Darnell said. "It hit off my foot and I tried to get to it in time to throw him out. He's got good speed, so I wasn't able to get it. [Just a] good piece of hitting and that's just the way it works, I guess."

With his original goal of going deep into the game still intact, Darnell scattered four hits over the final two frames while striking out a season-high nine without issuing a free pass. The victory was his third career complete game and second shutout -- his first at Triple-A. It also marked Rochester's International League-leading 18th shutout, the most since Norfolk reached that mark in 1995 and most as a club since the 1974 Red Wings had 24.

"Any time you can do that, it's a good accomplishment, but I had good defensive plays behind me as well. It's a team thing for sure," he said. "I pitch backwards a lot and use my offspeed pitches, but once you get ahead with a couple runs, you're mentally changed to being aggressive because you know you have that cushion."

Darnell already has a no-hitter under his belt as he pitched the final six innings of a combined feat with Trevor May last season -- nearly three weeks after the starter began the game.

The Nashville native has bounced between the bullpen and the rotation over the past two seasons, most recently returning to a starting role on Aug 13. In his past three outings, Darnell has held circuit foes to one earned run on nine hits while striking out 17 over 20 innings.

"I don't know if [the shutout] proves anything. I just think at this moment of time, [the Twins] need me as a starter and I can do it. But if they need me to relieve, I can do that," he said. "I just think it goes back to pitching, getting ahead and using your offspeed pitches. If you can do that, you can be successful at whatever you do."

Martinez, Danny Santana, Xavier Avery, Danny Ortiz and Eric Fryer collected three hits apiece for the Red Wings.