Behind Glasnow, Indians flirt with no-no

Weather was the only thing that could stop Tyler Glasnow on Wednesday.

MLB.com's No. 8 overall prospect struck out three over five innings before a rain delay and Triple-A Indianapolis came within two outs of a no-hitter in a 2-0 blanking of visiting Rochester.

"I didn't feel that great going out. I feel a lot better in the stretch than the windup, I have the last couple years," Glasnow told MLB.com after working around four walks. "It was hard for me to figure out the rhythm of the windup and I was trying not to think about about it, but once I went to the stretch, everything felt good. My walks came from the windup."

The 22-year-old right-hander was extremely effective after issuing free passes, retiring all seven batters he faced with a man on and allowing just one Red Wing to advance past first base. He walked one in each of the first four innings before tossing a 1-2-3 fifth on 11 pitches, but a two-hour rain delay ended his day.

After throwing no more than 83 pitches in his first three outings, Glasnow tossed at least 91 pitches in five of his previous seven starts. While he likely wouldn't have topped his season high of 98, the Pirates' top prospect would have had a chance to pitch into the seventh inning for the second time all season, despite his inefficiency.

Walks are nothing new for Glasnow, who's issued 29 free passes in 61 innings this season and 207 in 444 1/3 frames in the Minor Leagues. He's walked at least two batters in five consecutive starts and 16 over his past 28 innings.

"Every game, I try to attack and sequence," he said. "I don't like to go too into scouting reports to overthink everything. We face these guys a lot, so you kind of pick up tendencies, especially with other pitchers you see that are kind of similar to you. Just get a feel for how the guys are and throw to their weaknesses."

Cory Luebke relieved Glasnow and fanned five in two perfect innings before Trey Haley struck out the side in the eighth. Jorge Rondon retired Wilfredo Tovar on a groundout leading off the ninth, but James Beresford drove a pitch up the middle for a single to break up the no-hitter.

Twins' No. 5 prospect Jorge Polanco followed with another single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but Eddie Rosario flied to Willy Garcia in right. Beresford tried to tag up but was called out on a close play at third for a game-ending double play.

Indianapolis grabbed the lead in the fifth when Jason Rogers tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Danny Ortiz. Once the rain subsided, Pirates No. 27 prospect Adam Frazier hit a two-out double in the sixth to score No. 10 prospect Alen Hanson, who drew a one-out walk.

Logan Darnell (5-5) took the loss, despite allowing one run on two hits with three strikeouts over five innings.

The teams combined for five hits while striking out 17 times.