Twins prospect Meyer throws 5 hitless at Triple-A

Right-hander Alex Meyer, the Twins' No. 3 prospect, threw five no-hit innings Thursday and Triple-A Rochester defeated Columbus, 5-4.

Meyer, ranked No. 25 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, struck out seven batters and walked four in five scoreless innings. Because he is on a strict pitch count at Rochester, he left the game after throwing 79 pitches.

Right-hander Deolis Guerra relieved Meyer and kept the no-hitter going through the sixth inning. But the combined effort ended with two outs in the seventh when outfielder Carlos Moncrief, the Indians' No. 10 prospect, pulled a single through the right side of the infield off Guerra.

Meyer hasn't thrown a no-hitter as a professional. He did take a no-hitter into the sixth last year in the Arizona Fall League, only to see it broken up with one out in the inning. He said that was his longest no-hit outing since high school.

With the victory Thursday, Meyer improved to 2-1 with a 3.79 ERA in eight starts this season. He leads the International League with 49 strikeouts and has walked 21 batters in 40 1/3 innings.