CHICAGO -- James Shields insists he doesn't put too much emphasis on numbers alone, especially when they relate to his win-loss record.

But after finally picking up his first victory as a member of the Chicago White Sox starting rotation Wednesday night, Shields will admit that finally breaking through in his fifth start with his new team brought some relief.

Shields gave up a leadoff home run, but settled in and worked 6 2/3 innings and got plenty of offense as Brett Lawrie, Tyler Saladino and Todd Frazier all homered and the White Sox fended off a ninth-inning rally in a 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Shields surrendered up the lone run before the Twins got to the Chicago bullpen for five runs in the ninth before Nate Jones finally shut the door with the tying run at the plate.

Despite the late drama, Shields and the White Sox did enough to finally get the right-hander off what had been a difficult losing streak.

"It was a tough stretch," Shields said. "It's nice to get off the schneid there and get a win, but I don't really focus on that kind of stuff. I've been around this game for a long time but my main focus is to win games for this team right now."

The White Sox (39-39) overcame the early deficit and built a 3-1 lead after the fifth inning thanks to solo shots from Lawrie and Saladino and an RBI single by Avisail Garcia. Chicago piled on five more runs in the sixth when Frazier homered and Saladino delivered an RBI single before Tim Anderson followed with a two-run single and then scored on Adam Eaton's RBI single.

The big inning not only chased Twins' starter Ricky Nolasco, but finally gave the White Sox plenty of breathing room. As it turns out, they needed every bit of the offense.

"You are excited when you get hits, you are excited when you score runs," Eaton said. "There's excitement. There's not a worry in the world when you are being successful and doing what you are supposed to do. I think that's what we were doing the first month of the year and hopefully that type of feeling will continue on going forward."

After Shields did his job, the Twins (25-52) finally showed signs of life in the ninth when they scored five times. The Twins had chances to cut into the deficit. The Twins squandered a prime scoring chance in the fifth when Eaton threw out Kurt Suzuki at the plate after Suzuki attempted to score on a Nunez double.

After Eaton ran into the right field fence trying to make a play on the fly ball, he recovered and delivered a perfect throw to throw out Suzuki.

"I think once you get to that spot, an inning can unravel," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "It can get away from you. I think with Adam, he's been playing such a great right field, he was able to come up (with a) strong arm.

"To be able to throw the guy out, it just kind of put an end to it."

In the ninth, four of the Twins' runs were unearned thanks to a Lawrie error that extended the inning. Robbie Grossman delivered a RBI single before the Twins piled on with a Juan Centeno groundout, a Trevor Plouffe RBI walk and a Max Kepler two-run double that got the Twins to within 9-6.

But Nate Jones, the third Chicago pitcher in the ninth inning, finally closed out the win by inducing a game-ending fly out.

"We kept playing," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "Somehow we got the tying run to the plate there in the ninth inning, but it was too big of a deficit."

NOTES: Twins RHP Trevor May (lower back spasms) will pitch in relief Friday and Saturday for Triple-A Rochester. May pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday night and has given up a run in 1.2 innings in two rehab appearances ... White Sox OF Melky Cabrera will miss a few days after an MRI revealed a minor sprain in his right wrist. Cabrera sustained the injury June 18 in Cleveland and reinjured it in Tuesday night's loss to the Twins. Manager Robin Ventura said Cabrera could be used as a defensive replacement, but likely wouldn't hit over the next 3-4 days ... RHP Zach Putnam (elbow) is still exploring his options, but is hoping to avoid season-ending surgery. Putnam may throw for the first time when the White Sox travel to Houston this weekend, but said he is currently evaluating his progress on a day-to-day basis.