CHICAGO -- Gavin Sheets was recalled by the White Sox from Triple-A Charlotte Wednesday and made an instant impact in the team’s 6-3 victory over the Pirates at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Make that, instant and impressive.

Getting the start at designated hitter, Sheets lofted a three-run homer off Max Kranick with two outs in the fourth inning to break a scoreless tie and provide the White Sox a lead they’d never give up. But Sheets’ seventh home run of the season served as just the opening act in his big league encore.

He added his eighth in the eighth inning for the first multi-homer effort of his career. That second blast came on an 0-2 pitch from reliever Duane Underwood, after Sheets fouled off five straight pitches.

“The last home run was just a battle,” Sheets said. “It was just backing things up a bit. I was ahead of his offspeed and just trying to back things up, and got a heater over the middle of the plate."

“Yeah, I mean, Gavin is a great hitter,” said Carlos Rodón, the White Sox starting and winning pitcher. “It’s nice to have a left-handed power bat like that who can impact a game with just one swing. He’s been really fun to watch.”

Sheets’ 370-foot drive -- with an exit velocity of 101.6 mph -- made a winner of Rodón, who allowed one run on five hits over five innings and 77 pitches. The southpaw, making his second start since returning from the injured list to deal with shoulder fatigue, struck out five and walked one.

Rodón threw 67 pitches over five innings in his victorious effort in Toronto after coming off the injured list. And while the southpaw could have worked deeper on Wednesday, he continued to build back toward October.

“I went out there and pitched five innings and just tried to keep the team ahead and we came up with the win. That was the goal,” Rodón said. “It’s part of the game. It is September. Just go out there and pitch.”

Those five strikeouts gave Rodón (11-5) a total of 168 to match a single-season career-high previously set in 2016. He reached that total in 165 innings five years ago, compared to needing 119 2/3 innings this season.

“He came out really good for the first three. Fourth, he lost a little bit and in the fifth, he gave us what he had,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He did a good job of getting us out of the fifth inning but you could tell that stamina was an issue. It wasn't pitch count. It was just watching him and the stuff was -- he gave us what he had. Thinking of sending him out there again wouldn't have been a good move for him or for us."

Reynaldo López, who remains scheduled to start Saturday in Kansas City, threw one inning and nine pitches of relief. Liam Hendriks (31st save) was called upon to work 1 2/3 innings with Craig Kimbrel unavailable Wednesday due to a physical issue. La Russa said it had nothing to do with Kimbrel’s arm, and he would be ready Friday in Kansas City.

The White Sox also played exceptional defense against the National League Central’s last place team. Eloy Jiménez made a running catch in left-center to take away extra bases from Jacob Stallings to end the sixth, while Leury García made two slick plays at shortstop in place of Tim Anderson, who was put on the 10-day injured list earlier Wednesday.

Wednesday’s win put the White Sox (78-56) at 22 over .500 for the first time since Sept. 13, 2006, when they were 84-62. Their magic number to clinch the AL Central dropped to 21. And the magic number for Sheets was one as in Sept. 1, when he came back to the Majors, or two for his long drives to right and center.

“I'm excited to be here, excited to make this run with the team. It feels really good to be back,” Sheets said. “I had a lot of confidence going back down. I knew I could compete at the big league level, and I just ran with that, took it back down to Charlotte and continued to swing the bat well and just not change anything. But definitely, that confidence carried through.

“You understand what you need to work on, what you struggle with, what you did well with and definitely work on that there. It'd be silly not to and silly to come back doing the same stuff. I was able to work on stuff there, not necessarily mechanical things but definitely approach-wise. And so I think that carried through tonight."