The Guardians will host the Orioles in Cleveland in the first tilt of a five-game slate Thursday. 

The O’s will send veteran right-hander Charlie Morton, who has an ugly 5.58 ERA on the season, to the mound. 

Despite what his season-long stats say, Morton has been strong of late. 

Through his first five starts, Morton posted a 10.89 ERA, giving up at least four earned runs and never going more than five innings. 

Orioles brass took the 41-year-old out of the rotation after it appeared his big-league career could be coming to a quick close. 

But since going back into a starter role in late May, Morton has been better than solid. 

In nine starts since May 26, Morton has a 3.78 ERA while striking out 9.82 batters per nine innings and allowing less than a home run per nine innings (0.76). 

Morton has pitched well enough to make him one of the most coveted starting pitchers on a thin trade market as Baltimore struggles to get back in the American League playoff race. 

Baltimore (44-57) enters Thursday 9 1/2 games out of the third and final wild card spot.

He’ll face a scuffling Guardians lineup, setting up a good opportunity for Morton to boost his trade value. 

Cleveland’s .670 OPS is the third-lowest in baseball this season, ahead of only the lowly Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. 

While they’re lineup is light-hitting as a whole, the Guardians are above-average at avoiding strikeouts. 

Instead of punchouts, I’m targeting Morton to pitch deep enough in this game to hit the Over on his outs prop. 

The play: Charlie Morton Over 15.5 outs (-135, FanDuel)

Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.