MINNEAPOLIS _ Some 5,000 Target Field customers waited almost five hours Thursday to watch a game that was over in about 20 minutes.
Four hours and 50 minutes after the matinee game was supposed to begin, Nik Turley released the second pitch of the game, which bounced about 20 feet in front of the mound, and crumpled to the ground. The rookie left-hander recovered quickly, but his tenure with the Twins did not.
Turley, his third major-league start delayed all afternoon by a steady shower, was quickly battered out of the game and probably out of the majors by White Sox hitters. Six of the eight Chicago batters Turley faced racked up hits, including a pair of long home runs, and the Twins went quietly after that, closing their 11-game homestand with a 9-0 loss.
Turley fell behind to each of the first five hitters he faced, and four of them took advantage by smashing hits all over the park, two of them out of it. Jose Abreu crushed an 0-1 fastball five rows deep into the left-field bleachers, Avisail followed with a double into the corner, and Todd Frazier launched a 3-2 fastball into the White Sox bullpen, staking Chicago to a 4-0 lead before hecklers had even warmed up.
Five other Twins pitchers took their turns facing the White Sox, the last of them catcher Chris Gimenez, who made his sixth appearance on the mound this season. Depending on how you define "position player" _ some players such as ex-Cardinal Rick Ankiel switched positions mid-career _ that may be the most such emergency outings in major-league history, and certainly since the 1940s.
Turley goes down in Twins' history, too; his first three career starts, since being called up on June 11, have totaled 9 1/3 innings, and included 17 runs allowed on 23 hits. His 16.39 ERA is the second-worst ever by a Minnesota pitcher in his first three career starts, topped only by Pete Filson's 17.47 mark in 1982.
Buddy Boshers allowed two runs in two inning, and Craig Breslow two in 2 2/3 as well, but it hardly mattered with Jose Quintana on the mound. The Chicago left-hander shut out the Twins on just five hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out nine while issuing no walks.
