Astros monitoring total innings on young arms

SEATTLE -- After hinting before the game that some of the Astros' young starting pitchers could be shut down before the end of the season, manager Bo Porter announced after Monday's 6-4 victory that the team was doing as much with Jarred Cosart.

Cosart, who worked five innings and allowed only an unearned run, two hits and pitched around a career-high six walks, threw a career-high 153 innings combined between his time in Triple-A Oklahoma City and in 10 impressive starts with the Astros.

"Honestly, I don't have much left," Cosart said Monday night. "My body is tired. This is new for me. Missing time last year with the blisters gave me an extra blow, almost a two-week break for my arm. It's kind of like starting over and I missed no time this year, which was a huge plus for me. That was one of my goals this year, to stay healthy this year and be able to come in next year."

The Astros have been restricting the workload of their young starters by using a six-man rotation for the past month.

Jordan Lyles (153 innings) and Brad Peacock (144 2/3 innings) were approaching career-high innings combined between the Minors and Majors. Lefty Brett Oberholtzer (134 2/3) is still more than 30 innings shy of his career high set in the Minors last year, and Dallas Keuchel (141 1/3 innings threw 174 1/3 innings in the Minors in 2010.

"As we move forward, these guys' next starts, we'll make some decisions on some of these guys," Porter said.

Porter added that he was hoping to get Paul Clemens back in the rotation later this week after he missed his start Sunday with a blister.