HOUSTON -- Having squandered all of the momentum following their surprisingly scorching start to the season, the Chicago White Sox could at least hang their hat on their recent performances on the road, where they'd won three of four games entering their series opener against the Houston Astros.

But following their 5-0 setback Friday -- their fourth shutout loss on the season -- Chicago (40-40) dropped back to .500. At least it has its ace on the mound for the middle game of the series Saturday.

White Sox left-hander Chris Sale (13-2, 2.79 ERA), the first pitcher in the majors to reach 13 wins this season, pursues his second victory over Houston this season. Sale defeated the Astros 2-1 on May 19, allowing one run on four hits with nine strikeouts while tossing a complete game. Astros catcher Evan Gattis recorded the lone run against Sale with a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning.

Sale has dominated the Astros throughout his career, posting a 4-1 record and 0.66 ERA in five career starts against them. He has allowed three earned runs while posting 56 strikeouts in 41 innings against Houston.

"We've got Sale tomorrow so we have a pretty good chance of winning the ballgame and (left-hander Jose) Quintana afterwards, so we've just got to keep our heads up and keep grinding," said White Sox right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who suffered the loss Friday night despite allowing just three hits and two earned runs over seven strong innings.

Right-hander Doug Fister (8-4, 3.36 ERA) gets the start for the Astros and seeks to rebound after the Royals snapped his seven-game winning streak in Kansas City on Sunday. Fister allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out six over 6 2/3 innings in the 6-1 setback.

For Fister, that streak was the longest of his career. The Astros had won 10 consecutive games in which Fister started, a streak that tied their single-season record set by right-hander Donnie Wall in 1996.

Fister is 3-4 with a 3.77 ERA in 10 career starts against the White Sox, including a 5-3 win in Chicago on May 18 when he pitched into the seventh inning.

The Astros have won 13 of 15 games at Minute Maid Park and opened a key 10-game homestand with their third shutout win and sixth in succession at home. Once 11 games below .500, the Astros (43-37) continue to put distance between their sluggish start with a successful mix of effective starting pitching and timely, productive at-bats.

"We've played really well and we've gotten ourselves back into relevance," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "And I'm proud of this group.

"We're playing pretty good baseball. We've got a great energy about us, the vibe is good, our personality is good, they're having a lot of fun. We're winning games we should win when we're in position to win. What comes with that is a much better standing in July than it did in April. What that gives us is positive momentum going into the last nine games of this homestand and the first half."