 departed with two outs in the seventh inning after throwing 113 pitches. He scattered just five singles while striking out nine without a walk for his second consecutive victory. Rookie Nik Turley (0-2) recorded only two outs, allowing six hits and five runs before the first of five Twins relievers - including backup catcher Chris Gimenez - was summoned. The White Sox had seven runs before the Twins even got eight outs. Matt Davidson had three hits and a home run, and Adam Engel had four hits and the first two RBIs of his career. After a rough start to the season, Quintana has begun to find his rhythm just in time for a White Sox rotation that badly needs some stability. He has a 2.25 ERA in four starts this month. The downpour began about two hours before the scheduled first pitch. The skies were dry for about an hour at one point, but the tarp never left the infield with another wave of the wet stuff on the way. The Twins have already played three doubleheaders at home this season, with two more on the books for the road: at Kansas City on July 1 and at Chicago on Aug. 21. The White Sox return to Minnesota for a three-game series from Aug. 29-31, with an off day scheduled for both teams on Aug. 28, but that's the only break for the Twins in a 27-day stretch and for the White Sox in a 34-day run. So with the radar promising an eventual relent, Twins officials made the decision to wait. By the time Turley threw his first pitch at 5 p.m. local time, perhaps 10 percent of the announced paid attendance of 27,684 remained. The Twins granted all ticket-holders an exchange for a seat of equal or lesser value for any game from Aug. 29 through Oct. 1. This was not the way the Twins wanted to wrap up the homestand, with an opportunity to leave for Cleveland with a sweep of the White Sox and some momentum for an Indians team that won all four games here last weekend. Turley's second pitch bounced halfway between the mound on the plate, and he hung his left arm awkwardly after the delivery, alarming manager Paul Molitor and head athletic trainer Dave Pruemer enough to visit and require him to throw some more warmup pitches without pain. He passed the test, but the rest of his appearance was no better than batting practice, rarely mixing a breaking ball in while mostly hurling fastballs and changeups that were hit hard to all parts of the ballpark. THE GREAT ABREU ROAD TRIPAbreu has hit all 13 of his home runs on the road, a White Sox record to start a season. The last time he went deep at Guaranteed Rate Field was Sept. 15, 2016. REMEMBER WHEN?The White Sox once waited out a 7 1/2-hour rain delay in Chicago, finally declaring a postponement before the game ever began against Texas on Aug. 12, 1990. The White Sox preferred to reschedule for four days later when both teams had an off day, but the Rangers didn't want to return to Chicago for one day before starting a home series against the White Sox the following weekend. So the game was actually made up as a doubleheader in Texas, five days after the marathon wait. UP NEXTWhite Sox: RHP Mike Pelfrey (3-5, 3.56 ERA) will pitch Friday in Chicago to start a three-game series against Oakland. He's 3-1 with a 2.03 ERA over his last six turns. For the Athletics, RHP Jharel Cotton (4-7, 5.40 ERA) will make his 13th start, seeking back-to-back wins for the first time in his career. Twins: LHP Adalberto Mejia (1-3, 5.53 ERA) will take the mound Friday in Cleveland to begin a three-game series. He has topped five innings just twice in nine starts. RHP Trevor Bauer (6-5, 5.54 ERA) will pitch for the Indians. He beat the Twins last week with eight strikeouts and two runs in seven innings.---For more baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Time: 1:10 PM EDT Venue: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN, 55403 MINNEAPOLIS -- If the Minnesota Twins are to complete a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox in Thursday afternoon's series finale, they will need a much different Nik Turley to step onto the mound than the one seen in his first two major league starts. Turley (0-1, 12.46 ERA) has struggled, allowing 12 earned runs on 17 hits in 8 2/3 innings against San Francisco and Cleveland. He allowed eight runs on nine hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings against the Indians on June 16." You can't defend walk, walk, homer," Twins manager Paul Molitor said after the Cleveland start. "That's what gets you. ... It got out of control in a hurry." The 27-year-old left-hander, signed by the Twins as a minor league free agent in the offseason, is running out of chances with the return of fellow lefty Hector Santiago from the disabled list looming on the horizon. Thursday's start marks Turley's first appearance facing the White Sox. The White Sox collected just four hits in scoring a pair of runs off Twins starter Jose Berrios in a 4-2 loss Wednesday, and they must take advantage of the Twins' inexperienced starter to avoid suffering a fifth straight loss to Minnesota. Chicago starter Jose Quintana would certainly appreciate the support. The left-handed Quintana snapped a seven-start winless streak in his last outing on June 16, which was largely due to his receiving the lowest run support (2.65 per game) of any major league starter to that point. Quintana (3-8, 5.07) was relieved after allowing Toronto just two runs and five hits in seven innings of an 11-4 Chicago win." Every time is good when you get a lot of (run) support," Quintana said. "Wow, it was a lot of runs, though. I needed that outing to get my confidence high again." Quintana is 6-8 with a 4.28 ERA in 20 career starts against Minnesota but is 0-4 in his last four starts against the Twins. Twins first baseman Joe Mauer, who sat out Wednesday's game, is batting .318 with a pair of home runs in 44 at-bats against Quintana. Brian Dozier is batting just .224 but has four home runs in 11 career hits off the Chicago lefty. Quintana must count on players such as Melky Cabrera and Jose Abreu to rebound after both players saw eight-game hitting streaks end Wednesday. Chicago slugger Avisail Garcia remains hot, entering the game 5-for-8 in the series, with three RBIs, a double and a home run. Minnesota's win over Chicago on Wednesday, combined with Cleveland's 5-1 win over Baltimore, leaves the Twins 1 1/2 games behind the Indians for the American League Central lead. Minnesota hopes to cut that lead to a half-game while the White Sox are looking for a win to help vault them past Detroit and out of the division cellar. To do so, Chicago must snap a four-game losing streak to the Twins, who have won seven of 10 meetings in 2017.
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