While rumors continue to swirl around pitchers the Houston Astros might pursue prior to the July 31 trade deadline, two of their own top arms, Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh, are taking steps to make those rumors all but obsolete.

Right-hander McHugh made his scheduled rehab start, Sunday, July 16, for Houston’s Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, against the Frisco RoughRiders, the Texas League affiliate of the Texas Rangers. McHugh, who has missed the entire season with a posterior impingement in his right elbow, will make his 2017 Astro debut Saturday, July 22 in Baltimore.

McHugh has made three previous appearances for the Hooks this season, including throwing 4.1 scoreless innings July 10 against Arkansas, in which he threw 74 pitches. In Sunday’s game, McHugh was slated to toss 90-95 pitches and/or 6 innings. He ended up working 6 innings, while throwing 69 pitches, 48 of them for strikes. He allowed no earned runs while yielding 4 hits and a walk, with 2 strikeouts, in the eventual 10-inning, 2-1 Hooks victory. His repertoire featuring a four-seam fastball, curve, and sinker accounted for 10 ground-outs and two fly outs.

McHugh threw a couple dozen controlled pitches in the Corpus bullpen following his Sunday game. A Tuesday bullpen session looks to be the last step before starting his first ’17 game.

Joining his mates in the dugout for Monday’s game against Seattle, McHugh later said he was consistently hitting 90-92 mph with his fastball in Corpus Christi, and the speed of his secondary pitches are “about where they should be,” he added.

“From that perspective, I feel like my body’s responding pretty well and the rehab has done its job,” McHugh said.

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Monday, McHugh’s rotation mate, southpaw Dallas Keuchel took the Corpus Christi mound for his first rehab stint since hitting the DL mid-May with neck discomfort.

Related: Keuchel Makes 2nd Rehab Start for Class A Tri-City Against Red Sox’ 2017 #1 Draft Pick

Keuchel has actually had two stints on the 10-day disabled list with his pinched nerve malady, and last threw for the Astros in a June 2 7-1 win against Texas.

The 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner (and three-time Gold Glove recipient) played for the Hooks in 2010 and 2011, and is 9-0 this season with 69 strikeouts and a 1.67 ERA for the parent club Astros.

Keuchel threw 45 pitches in three scoreless innings on Monday night in his rehab start at Double-A Corpus Christi, telling MLB.com he’s ready to return to a big league mound.

Keuchel allowed two hits and walked one against Frisco. He threw 29 of his 45 pitches for strikes, and coaxed six groundouts to go along with three strikeouts.

“Getting up and down three times, having a normal bullpen session before the game…that for sure was the biggest key for me to getting my mind to believe that I’m ready to get back,” Keuchel said after the 7-2 Hooks victory.

“I really think that through this whole DL stint that I really never lost a lot when it came to command, and I knew it was going to take a little bit of time for velocity to come back, but the command never left me,” Keuchel added. “That was a very positive step forward today just to see how I would respond with some adrenaline and competition in the box.

“The velocity was actually better than I thought it was going to be. I really believe that I could go in a big league game. It’s just a matter of how I bounce back. Tuesday is going to be the biggest key for sure.”

Keuchel said he was pleasantly surprised with how his body responded to his routine and the adrenaline.

“That’s probably the best news I’ve felt in a long time,” Keuchel said. “We’ll look to continue and hopefully have a good day tomorrow (Tuesday). I just need to bounce back, and we’ll make a decision on what’s next.”

Indeed, Keuchel and the Houston coaches and manager A.J. Hinch will decide if the pitcher will need another rehab start, or simply, like McHugh, give him a starting nod this weekend against the Orioles.

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