HOUSTON -- The White Sox have not played well against the Astros in the past couple of seasons. They're 0-9 against them, dating to 2018, with a pretty dismal overall track record at Minute Maid Park -- going 3-8 in their past 11 games.

But thanks to Jose Abreu's homer to dead center in the seventh inning of a 5-1 loss on Tuesday night, Chicago was given a little bit of a consolation. The loss will go down as just that -- a loss -- instead of a much more dramatic-sounding no-hitter by former American League Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, whose only blemish during his eight innings was that homer by Abreu, his 11th of the season.

Abreu's homer hit the batter's eye, at the deepest point of the ballpark, just beyond the 409-foot sign and traveled a projected 416 feet, according to Statcast.

• Box score

"We were excited because obviously, this young man in Verlander was really good tonight," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "They've got one of the special ones and he was doing a nice job against us today. [Abreu] was grinding it out and he was able to get a pitch that he could hit out of the ballpark."

This isn't the first time Abreu has gotten the best of Verlander. Entering the game, Abreu was slashing .366/.435/.780 in 41 career at-bats, with five homers against the right-hander. Abreu now has more home runs off Verlander than any other pitcher he's faced.

"I face hitting [against him] with the same approach with every other pitcher," Abreu said. "For whatever reason, I have success against him. No explanation -- I don't do anything different against him.

"We all know the kind of pitcher he is. He's one of the best. In that at-bat, I just tried to make hard contact. I'm glad I was able to do it. At least we got to put something on the scoreboard for us."

Said Verlander: “Him and I have had a lot of battles together. I know his strengths, he knows mine. I didn’t think he was swinging right there. I was trying to get ahead of him with a well-located fastball. It leaked over the plate just far enough down. He put a great swing on it.”

The homer was a small silver lining on a night where little went right for the White Sox. They struck out 11 times against Verlander before Abreu's home run. The Astros ace needed just 11 pitches to strike out the side in the third, and from there, the Sox did not get the ball out of the infield until the sixth inning. A string of strikeouts and infield popups ended when Charlie Tilson flied out to left for the first out of the sixth.

Verlander got 28 swinging strikes -- 14 on sliders, 10 on fastballs and four on curveballs. That's the most in a game by any pitcher this season, and the most by anyone since Max Scherzer had 29 on May 30, 2018.

"His stuff was really good today," Renteria said. "The angle he had, the life to his fastball, his breaking ball sharpness, he was just very very good today, obviously."

Early in the game, White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey, while not dominant like Verlander, was holding his own. His command was mostly on point for the first four innings, and though he recorded only one strikeout and induced only two swinging strikes, he logged six ground-ball outs and held the Astros to one run -- a solo homer by Yuli Gurriel with two out in the fourth.

But things fell apart for Covey in the fifth. Chicago’s dilemma shifted from trying to match Houston inning for inning to simply preventing the game from getting out of hand. That was a nearly impossible task, given the first four Astros hitters walked, and everyone scored -- a couple on Michael Brantley's double to the corner in left, and one on Carlos Correa's single up the middle.

Covey was charged with three walks that inning -- two while he was actually in the game, and one after he was lifted in the middle of Josh Reddick's at-bat after falling behind, 2-0. That prompted Renteria to call for lefty Aaron Bummer, who threw four more pitches to Reddick and ended up walking him.

Covey acknowledged fatigue was a factor in his final inning.

"Maybe a little bit," he said. "This is the best I've felt so far, trying to go into the fifth, get to that plateau of 95, 100 pitches. I felt pretty good tonight. Just lost it there in the fifth."

Ruiz optioned
The need for a fresh arm in the ‘pen necessitated a roster move following the game. Right-hander Jose Ruiz, who threw 22 pitches in Monday’s bullpen game and another 18 on Tuesday, was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte. The White Sox will announce a corresponding move prior to Wednesday’s game.