Palka's triple caps big inning for Chicago White Sox

Daniel Palka's 2-run triple highlighted a 4-run third inning to propel the Chicago White Sox to a 5-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night at Guaranteed Rate Field.

For the first time all season, the Sox have won two games in one homestand. They will try to make it three out of four against the Rangers on Sunday.

Sox starting pitcher Lucas Giolito turned in a quality start after a slow first few innings. He pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 earned. Giolito struck out three, walked two and hit two batters.

"First few innings were a little rough," he said. "But I was able to make the adjustment and from there just command the fastball better, pour more strikes in the zone. … Definitely a good one to build off of going into the next one, for sure."

The Rangers scored first on back-to-back doubles from Nomar Mazara and Jurickson Profar in the second inning. One batter later, Rougned Odor knocked in Profar with a double. The Rangers added another run on a sacrifice fly in the third to go ahead 3-0.

"After that third inning, I was able to make a really good adjustment and then command the ball better from there," Giolito said. "Then shut them down a little after they put those runs on the board."

The White Sox answered in the bottom half with back-to-back, two-out RBI singles from Jose Abreu and Matt Davidson. Then Palka smashed his triple off the wall in left-center to give the Sox a 4-3 lead.

Most of the damage came with two outs.

"Their approaches have been improving," Sox manager Rick Renteria said of his offense. "I don't know if it's anything different, but timely hitting does help, and for us those two-out runs were very, very important. But they're important for anybody, in any club, two-out RBIs and timely hitting."

Renteria said he felt Giolito did a good job adjusting and settling down, even after the early damage.

Abreu added a 412-foot solo home run in the seventh inning. Jace Fry pitched 1⅓ hitless innings in relief, striking out two. Nate Jones came in for the final two batters to earn his third save.

Renteria said Fry impressed him in a high-leverage situation during a close ballgame. The 24-year-old left-hander has retired 22 of 24 batters he has faced this season (with 2 walks), extending his personal hitless streak to 7⅓ innings.

"It was awesome getting in there in the eighth inning, even getting the first guy in the ninth inning," Fry said. "After I got him I was kind of hoping he'd let me keep going, but it was a good decision. (Jones) shut the door so it was all good."

Fry said he feels he can be effective against righties or lefties. Renteria thinks Fry looked comfortable Saturday.

"He's been very very effective," Renteria said. "He's been commanding the strike zone very well, confidently approaching his hitters."

Abreu, who extended his hitting streak to 10 games, was happy to see young guys such as Palka and Fry contributing in a victory.

"When you can win games like tonight, it's huge because you are letting them know, the young guys, how it is to win games and how it is to compete and to play good baseball and to have confidence with the things that you're doing," Abreu said.

Rangers starting pitcher Ariel Jurado was making his major-league debut. He pitched 4⅔ innings, allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs.

• Twitter: @sean_hammond