The weather in Rochester, N.Y., on Thursday night was a duplicate of what we had in the Twin Cities: low 80s and clear. Thunderstorms enter the forecast for the remainder of the Rochester Red Wings' homestand, which concludes with a matinee next Tuesday against Buffalo.

That could be the next start for Kevin Slowey, if he were to stay in a five-day rotation and the Twins decided the time finally had arrived for a starter to pay for his crimes against the AL Central standings.

Nick Blackburn appeared to be the starter on double-secret probation entering this four-game series with the first-place Chicago White Sox, but then Slowey charged to the mound as if he wanted to again spend some true quality time in upstate New York.

Slowey was with the Red Wings for 20 starts in 2007. He went 10-5 with a 1.89 ERA and five complete games. Man, those were the days.

The Twins limped home at 6-13 in the three weeks before the All-Star break. They were looking for a fresh start Thursday night against the sizzling White Sox. Francisco Liriano was an option, but the pitching brain trust decided to go with Slowey for the series opener.

He gave up two runs on four singles and two sacrifice flies in the first. He gave up two runs on Gordon Beckham's blastoff, two singles and another sacrifice fly in the second.

Joel Koyama — Star Tribune
The Twins’ run of bad outings by their starting pitchers continued as Kevin Slowey gave up five runs in three innings.

The Twins pieced together a six-run, two-out rally off lefty John Danks in the bottom of the second. The final three runs came on Joe Mauer's bases-loaded double, his first three-RBI game of the season.

Slowey kept the score at 6-4 in the third -- and it only took 30 pitches. A.J. Pierzynski was at the plate for 12 of those before popping out.

The half-inning also included a Mauer visit to the mound ... estimated as the 50th time this season the catcher has been required to wander out and ask Slowey exactly what pitch he wanted to hurl.

As a couple, Mauer and Slowey seem to have only slightly fewer problems than Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva.

Manager Ron Gardenhire finally had seen enough when Alexei Ramirez and Beckham opened the fourth with singles. So, there was Slowey's line: three-plus innings, nine hits, five runs, a hit batsman and two strikeouts.

The problem was that Alex Burnett, the kid that followed Slowey, had the ball for about 20 minutes to get three outs.

Burnett turns 23 later this month. He was a revelation for a couple of months, but lately he has been looking as if he was rushed to the big leagues. He gave away the lead in a three-run fifth that included falling off the mound for a balk.

Over his past 11 appearances, Burnett has allowed 19 hits and 11 runs -- and all that time, Anthony Slama, 26, has waited in Rochester for a chance.

This isn't a recommendation that the entire staff get sent to Rochester. The Red Wings are a last-place team without a starter that could help the Twins.

The move would have to be Brian Duensing from the bullpen to the rotation. That would leave two openings in the Twins' bullpen: for Duensing and Burnett, the young man obviously in need of a period of adjustment in Class AAA.

There are bullpen options in Rochester, starting with Slama and including Glen Perkins and Kyle Waldrop.

Perkins has been a starter at Rochester, but the lefty is more suited to be a reliever (and a fill-in for Duensing) in the big leagues.

It was nonsensical that the Twins didn't make a change with this pitching staff during the All-Star break.

It would be worse than that if they don't have pitchers on planes after what was witnessed in Thursday's 8-7 loss in front of another 40,000 at Target Field.

The Twins are now 4 1/2 games behind the White Sox. They have gone 11-19 since June 10 and have lost 14 games in the standings.

Twins hard-cores have been screaming to do something big for the pitching -- a load of prospects for a quality starter. That might happen by the July 31 trade deadline, but the time is now to make at least a small improvement in this mess.

Start with Duensing in the rotation, Slama in the bullpen and work from there.

Patrick Reusse can be heard noon-4 weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP. • preusse@startribune.com