The average time of a game in Major League Baseball this season is 3 hours and 8 minutes. The Twins AAA affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, completed a no-hitter in a game last night that took 18 days to play and took place in two stadiums separated by over 600 miles.
The no-hitter began in Durham, North Carolina on July 24. Trevor May, who is now with the Twins and made his major league debut on Saturday, started the game for the Red Wings. He pitched three no-hit innings before the game was suspended due to rain.
Rochester and Durham scheduled to finish the game as a part of a doubleheader on Monday at Frontier Field, the home of the Red Wings. Since May is no longer with the Red Wings, Logan Darnell, who pitched with the Twins as recently as Aug. 1, finished off the cross-state no-hitter.
Since the game began in Durham, the Red Wings were considered the away team during this game being played in their home stadium. The no-no will also be recorded as taking place in Durham.
The Red Wings drew 8,718 fans to witness these strange set of events, nearly 3,000 above their average attendance. However, as the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle points out, many of the fans were there to get autographs from Buffalo Bills rookie Sammy Watkins, who also happens to be the cousin of former Twins prospect and current minor league hitting coach, Tommy Watkins.
@ldarnell15 completes the no hitter! pic.twitter.com/EO8CxMhG4I
— Tom G (@TommyWatkins) August 11, 2014
After the game, Darnell said May was the first person he texted. May’s response from Houston read, “Boom! That’s awesome!”
This is the second combined no-hitter in Rochester Red Wings history. Jeff Manship, Jake Stevens, Kyle Waldrop and Jim Hoey combined for a no-hitter in 2011. The last time a Twin threw a no-hitter was in 2011, when Francisco Liriano pulled off the feat in Chicago against the White Sox.
