Astros' Hinch says all of his pitchers available for Game 7

With their season on the line in Saturday's do-or-die Game 7 of the ALCS, Houston Astros manager A.J. Hinch is taking no chances in order to ensure his team advances to the World Series.

Hinch confirmed after Game 6 that Charlie Morton will be his Game 7 starter. Who follows Morton in relief remains to be seen, but you can bet the Astros' bullpen will be a lot more crowded than usual on Saturday.

"We're going to have all hands on deck," Hinch told reporters, per ASAP Sports. "You're going to see a game played tomorrow with everybody available, obviously.

"I'll use every pitcher on the staff if we have to to get 27 outs."

Houston's starters are all on board with pitching in relief on Saturday if they have to. Only Justin Verlander, who tossed seven shutout innings on Friday, will likely be down - though even Hinch wouldn't entirely rule out calling on the "superhuman" Verlander as a last resort.

"No pitcher is going to be in the dugout," southpaw Dallas Keuchel, who started Games 1 and 5, told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "They're all going to be in the bullpen, myself included.

"Any way we can help out, we're trying to get to the World Series, the same way the Yankees are, and that's a nice feeling to have."

Closer Ken Giles will also be available despite throwing 23 pitches in the ninth inning on Friday. While some might have counted Giles out of Game 7 after his lengthy Game 6 performance, Hinch is paying no attention to his closer's pitch count at this time of year.

"My decision to pitch (Giles) in the ninth, there was no tomorrow, so we didn't have the luxury of limping into that inning ..." Hinch said. "I didn't want him to throw 20-plus pitches. We just wanted the three outs. We wanted to shake hands and get to tomorrow. How it happens tomorrow, who knows? We'll see."