Q:

How to adjust background colorbox size for inline code in pandoc markdown

This answer provides a nice way to add background colour to inline code snippets.  Using that, my YAML header includes this:
---
title: My title
subtitle: \emph{Documentation last updated on \today}
toc: true
geometry: "left=4cm,right=4cm,top=3cm,bottom=3cm"
output: pdf_document
header-includes:
 - \usepackage{fvextra}
 - \DefineVerbatimEnvironment{Highlighting}{Verbatim}{breaklines,commandchars=\\\{\}}

 - \definecolor{bgcolor}{HTML}{E0E0E0}
 - \let\oldtexttt\texttt

 - \renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{
     \colorbox{bgcolor}{\oldtexttt{#1}}
   }
---

\newpage{}

Overview
---

Queries the table `SOME_TABLE` and does something something with the data, validating Stuff and eating Pi.  It then goes on to do some other stuff and finishes with doing some more stuff. 

Usage
---

This explains the usage. 

Area 1
---

The following sequence lays out the process. 

1.  Query data from `SOME_TABLE` applying the following filters:

    ```python
    COL1 == SOME_DATE
    COL2 == "SOME_STRING"
    COL3 ! = "ANOTHER_STRING"
    ```

2.  Do something something something:

    ```python
    def get_function(param1, param2):
        if param1:
            res = dosomething(param1)
        else:
            res = dosomething(param2)
        return res
    ```

    The example continues. 

However, the box around the code that contains the background colour seems to take up the whole line and "touches" capital characters in the line below it (in pdf output).  How can I adjust the size of that box to take up only some proportion of the line height, for example, max the height of capital letters of the code text? 
EDIT:
Added the complete document layout.  The issue is well visible in the Overview section, where the box around SOME_TABLE touches the top of the capital letters in the line below it. 
Also a screenshot of the original text:

EDIT2
The resulting tex file from this markdown document:
\newpage{}

\hypertarget{overview}{%
\subsection{Overview}\label{overview}}

Queries the table \texttt{SOME\_TABLE} and does something something with
the data, validating Stuff and eating Pi.  It then goes on to do some
other stuff and finishes with doing some more stuff. 

\hypertarget{usage}{%
\subsection{Usage}\label{usage}}

This explains the usage. 

\hypertarget{area-1}{%
\subsection{Area 1}\label{area-1}}

The following sequence lays out the process. 

\begin{enumerate}
\def\labelenumi{\arabic{enumi}.} 
\item
  Query data from \texttt{SOME\_TABLE} applying the following filters:

\begin{Shaded}
\begin{Highlighting}[]
\NormalTok{COL1 }\OperatorTok{==}\NormalTok{ SOME_DATE}
\NormalTok{COL2 }\OperatorTok{==} \StringTok{"SOME_STRING"}
\NormalTok{COL3 }\OperatorTok{!=} \StringTok{"ANOTHER_STRING"}
\end{Highlighting}
\end{Shaded}
\item
  Do something something something:

\begin{Shaded}
\begin{Highlighting}[]
\KeywordTok{def}\NormalTok{ get_function(param1, param2):}
    \ControlFlowTok{if}\NormalTok{ param1:}
\NormalTok{        res }\OperatorTok{=}\NormalTok{ dosomething(param1)}
    \ControlFlowTok{else}\NormalTok{:}
\NormalTok{        res }\OperatorTok{=}\NormalTok{ dosomething(param2)}
    \ControlFlowTok{return}\NormalTok{ res}
\end{Highlighting}
\end{Shaded}

  The example continues. 
\end{enumerate}

A:

If you tweak egreg's answer a little, you can optimise the output:
---
title: My title
subtitle: \emph{Documentation last updated on \today}
toc: true
geometry: "left=4cm,right=4cm,top=3cm,bottom=3cm"
output: pdf_document
header-includes:
 - \usepackage{fvextra}
 - \DefineVerbatimEnvironment{Highlighting}{Verbatim}{breaklines,commandchars=\\\{\}}

 - \definecolor{bgcolor}{HTML}{E0E0E0}
 - \let\oldtexttt\texttt
 - \newcommand{\code}[1]{\begingroup\setlength{\fboxsep}{1pt}\colorbox{bgcolor}{\oldtexttt{\hspace*{2pt}\vphantom{A}#1\hspace*{2pt}}}\endgroup}
 - \renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{\code{\oldtexttt{#1}}}
---

\newpage{}

Overview
---

Queries the table `SOME_TABLE` and does something something with the data, validating Stuff and eating Pi.  It then goes on to do some other stuff and finishes with doing some more stuff. 

Usage
---

This explains the usage. 

Area 1
---

The following sequence lays out the process. 

1.  Query data from `SOME_TABLE` applying the following filters:

    ```python
    COL1 == SOME_DATE
    COL2 == "SOME_STRING"
    COL3 ! = "ANOTHER_STRING"
    ```

2.  Do something something something:

    ```python
    def get_function(param1, param2):
        if param1:
            res = dosomething(param1)
        else:
            res = dosomething(param2)
        return res
    ```

    The example continues. 

You can improve the output further by scaling the highlighted text down:
header-includes:
 - \usepackage{fvextra}
 - \usepackage{relsize}
 - \DefineVerbatimEnvironment{Highlighting}{Verbatim}{breaklines,commandchars=\\\{\}}

 - \definecolor{bgcolor}{HTML}{E0E0E0}
 - \let\oldtexttt\texttt
 - \newcommand{\code}[1]{\begingroup\setlength{\fboxsep}{1pt}\colorbox{bgcolor}{\oldtexttt{\hspace*{2pt}\vphantom{A}#1\hspace*{2pt}}}\endgroup}
 - \renewcommand{\texttt}[1]{\code{\relscale{.7}\oldtexttt{#1}}}

