McHugh struck out four over two scoreless innings in Tuesday's 11-4 win over Detroit.
This was McHugh's second outing out of the bullpen and his most encouraging effort since mid-April. After a miserable stretch during which he posted an 11.44 ERA over 19.2 innings, he'll need to string together more outings like this to get back in the starting rotation. He was an effective reliever for Houston in 2018, but the Astros already have a strong, deep relief corps and could make better use of the 31-year-old right-hander as a starter.