KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Lucas Giolito is a 23-year-old Chicago White Sox rookie right-hander the Kansas City Royals will probably see a lot of in the next decade.

They saw more than they wanted of him on Wednesday afternoon.

While Giolito got a no-decision in a 5-3 White Sox victory, he limited the Royals to one run over 6 1/3 innings.

And that was without his best stuff.

"It was one of those battle days for sure, right out of the gate, walking the first batter, two walks in the first inning," Giolito said. "I definitely felt out of synch in the beginning. Give a lot of credit to Smitty (catcher Kevan Smith) back there. He knew when to slow it down, come out there and talk with me, kind of reset things. Luckily we were able to battle through it and I started to feel a little bit better with the command later in the outing."

Giolito left with a 3-1 lead, but the bullpen failed to hold it.

"I noticed he was trying to get a feel for things, instead of just pitching like he knows how to pitch," Smith said. "That was a few of our conversations out there, just trust his stuff. The big thing for him is to extend through his pitches. The big thing for him is angle. When we get that, he's almost unhittable."

Adam Engel and Tyler Saladino, two batters hitting less than .200, combined to drive in the first three Chicago runs.

Avisail Garcia and Jose Abreu drove in runs in the ninth to snap a 3-3 tie.

Garcia's single scored Yoan Moncada, while Abreu's sacrifice fly got Tim Anderson home.

Juan Minaya (3-2) earned the victory. Scott Alexander (4-4), who worked out of a ninth-inning jam Tuesday for a save, took the loss.

Alexander was pitching for the third time in four days with the Royals' bullpen taxed and starter Eric Skoglund making it through only three innings.

"The ball might have been a little flatter than normal," Alexander said. "But I think everyone is kind of tired. At this point, it's the same way for everybody. Maybe I wasn't as sharp. They put good swings on it."

Giolito was removed after facing 27 batters, allowing only four hits.

Chicago jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first three innings off Skoglund.

Engel's double with two out in the second scored Saladino, who had walked, and Smith, who had singled. Both moved up a base on Salvador Perez's passed ball, making one of the runs unearned.

Saladino's two-out single in the third scored Garcia for the third White Sox run.

Skoglund was pulled after three innings, yielding three runs on five hits and two walks, to take the loss.

Salvador Perez homered in the sixth, his 25th, for the only run Giolito would allow. It landed in the Royals' bullpen, where Peter Moylan, who was warming up, caught the ball.

The Royals tied it in the eighth off Danny Farquhar. They scored two runs on three hits, a hit batter and a stolen base. Alcides Escobar's single scored Perez, who led off the inning with a single, for the first run. Terrance Gore, who ran for Brandon Moss, stole third and scored on Alex Gordon's ground out.

Kansas City loaded the bases with one out in the seventh on Gordon's single, which ended Giolito's afternoon, a walk to Whit Merrifield and Lorenzo Cain's single to center. Left-hander Aaron Bummer, the third Chicago pitcher of the inning, got out of the mess on four pitches. He retired Melky Cabrera on a first pitch fly ball to shallow center and Eric Hosmer on a ground ball to third.

The Royals threatened in the first, which Merrifield led off with a walk and promptly swiped second base, his 29th stolen base. Merrifield stopped at third on Cain's single to center.

With Cabrera at the plate and no outs, Kansas City attempted a curious double steal. With Cain running, White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson cut off the throw to second and threw home in time to get Merrifield.

"It's a play we work on," Merrifield said. "We're an aggressive base running team. It was just poorly executed on my part. I didn't get a good enough jump and I wasn't far enough down the line to begin with. You've got to be sure right there you're going to score and I didn't execute it very well."

After Hosmer's two-out walk, Anderson made a leaping catch of Perez's line drive.

NOTES: Royals LHP Danny Duffy, who has missed 18 games with an elbow injury, will in all likelihood come off the disabled list and start Sunday against Cleveland. ... 3B Yolmer Sanchez did not start, but was used a pinch hitter in the eighth. Tyler Saladino replaced him, making his 13th start at third base. ... Royals RHP Joakim Soria is in Arizona to be with his wife for the birth of their third child on Thursday. ... The White Sox won for only the second time in their past 10 games against an AL Central opponent. Both victories were over the Royals.