CHICAGO -- Carlos Rodon may not have had his best stuff on Tuesday, but he did have grit.

The Chicago White Sox rookie left-hander worked six scoreless innings while first baseman Jose Abreu clubbed his 10th homer of the season in a 4-2 victory over the Houston Astros.

"Today wasn't (Rodon's) best command day but you can see the maturity coming out," said White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers.

Rodon had runners on base in four of his six innings, including bases full of Astros in the fourth.

"I had some tough situations there early on, but a big play by Gordon (Beckham in the fourth) defensively were great and two big plays by Melky (Cabrera) out there on line drives that were tough to catch," he said.

Rodon (2-0) allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five and ended a run of four consecutive no-decisions to claim his first win since May 9.

The White Sox (27-30) captured their second straight victory and first series since taking two of three from the Astros in Houston in late May.

The loss was the sixth straight for Houston (34-26), which still sits atop the American League West.

A two-run ninth-inning rally fell short but was encouraging to Astros manager A.J. Hinch.

"We certainly put some fight up at the end and we had opportunities before the end, too," he said. "But they got a big hit when they needed it, they tacked on when they only had a two-run lead. They completed a complete game."

Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel (7-2) worked seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out five.

Abreu, who went 2-for-4, drove in shortstop Alexei Ramirez with his two-run homer in the sixth. Ramirez beat out an infield single to open the inning.

Abreu's homer came on Keuchel's 1-1 pitch and landed just beyond the right-field wall for the first runs of the game.

"I was trying to induce some weak contact and he put a big barrel on it, he's a strong guy," said Keuchel. "I had some good success against him but I tip my cap to him."

Chicago added two critical runs in the eighth after loading the bases on Astros right-handed reliever Chad Qualls.

Cabrera's double over Preston Tucker reached the left-field wall, allowing Abreu and right fielder Avisail Garcia to score.

Cabrera went 2-for-3 and "had some pretty good at-bats tonight," said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. "That last one became very important. You want to be able to add on and he did that."

Right-handed reliever Josh Fields, who replaced Qualls, walked Beckham to again load the bases with none out. But Fields struck out the next three batters to quell further threats.

Houston cut the deficit to 4-2 when shortstop Carlos Correa -- playing in just his second major league game -- slammed a two-run homer to left off White Sox left-handed reliever Zach Duke with none out in the ninth.

"He's very impressive," said Ventura. "Usually you'll see some jitters or something. He's not rushed. He's a major league player and he's going to give people fits for a long time."

Right-handed reliever David Robertson gave up a base hit to catcher Hank Conger but got the next three batters out for his 12th save.

The Astros loaded the bases with one out in the fourth but failed to score. Rodon struck out third baseman Luis Valbuena and then got center fielder Jake Marisnick to ground to short for an inning-ending fielder's choice.

NOTES: Despite enduring a five-game losing streak entering Tuesday, the Astros still had the franchise's second-best start (34-25) through 59 games. The 1999 team was 36-23 in the same span. The Astros lost their sixth straight Tuesday. ... Houston's 34 wins were also the most in the American League. ... Houston SS Carlos Correa's hit and RBI on Monday made him the youngest shortstop (20) with both in a major le