50 Charlie Morton SP

Morton allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out four across three innings in a no-decision against Baltimore on Sunday.

As expected, Morton was limited in pitch count as the Astros gear up for the postseason. On a positive note, it didn't look like he had any problems with shoulder soreness that caused him to leave last weekend's start after just one inning. Though nothing has been made official at this point in time, it's expected that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole will take the mound versus the Indians during the first two games of the ALDS, so look for Morton to start Game 3 or 4 in Cleveland.

Morton's next start will be pushed back to Saturday against Arizona, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

Morton will operate on an extra two days of rest after he returned from the disabled list and started last Saturday against Boston. The 34-year-old is approaching career highs in starts and innings and is also having the best season of his career. Morton has a career-low 3.15 ERA and a career-high 188 strikeouts (10.8 K/9).

Morton was placed on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday due to right shoulder discomfort, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

General manager Jeff Luhnow only anticipates Morton missing one start, so there's a decent chance he will be back in action next weekend in Boston. This move came just after the club announced that Morton would have his following start pushed back due to rest as he's on pace to pitch career highs in innings and starts, basically meaning that the right-hander will only be out a couple more days than planned if he's activated from the DL after the minimum. In a corresponding move, Chris Devenski (hamstring) was reinstated from the shelf.

Morton threw five innings in a no-decision against the Athletics on Friday, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits over five innings, striking out four and walking two in Houston's 4-3 extra-inning defeat.

It wasn't quite the dominant stat line Morton's owners have grown accustomed to this season, but it was still a solid effort that nearly put him in line for his 13th win of his 2018 campaign. He's still in the midst of a phenomenal, career-best season at age 34 that has seen him post a 2.85 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP and log 175 strikeouts over 142.1 innings.

Morton allowed one run on three hits and three walks while striking out eight over seven innings in Monday's 3-1 win over the Giants.

Morton did his part, quelling the Giants' bats, but got little support from his teammates, who placed one man in scoring position while he was in the game. He was looking at a loss before Marwin Gonzalez's three-run home run in the ninth gave Houston the win. This was Morton's third straight quality start, a run in which his ERA is 1.89 with 21 strikeouts over 19 innings. He's next scheduled to take the mound Friday at home against Seattle.