HOUSTON -- While Gerrit Cole was putting on an electrifying show in his return to Minute Maid Park as a member of the Yankees, Astros starter Zack Greinke’s time on the mound Saturday night wasn’t nearly as long or as effective as his former teammate’s.

Greinke, who entered the day leading the American League in innings pitched, threw only 65 pitches -- a little more than half of Cole’s 129-pitch outing in a 1-0 victory over the punchless Astros -- and left the game after four innings with right shoulder soreness.

• Box score

“It’s been bothering me for a little over a month,” Greinke said. “And just hoping to have a shorter start this time with a bit of extra days from the All-Star break and be rested for the second half is the goal.”

Astros manager Dusty Baker said Greinke told him this week his shoulder wasn’t feeling its best, and the plan on Saturday was an abbreviated outing, though probably longer than four innings. But Baker decided four innings were enough because Greinke wasn’t as sharp with his fastball like usual and he was throwing a lot of curveballs.

“We thought that was enough, especially with the [All-Star] break,” Baker said. “He’ll get a few extra days. I think he’s leading the league in innings pitched. Not that he’s pitched so much, but he’s thrown a lot of pitches and gone deep into games. He’s one of our main horses, and we had to take care of him.”

Greinke gave the ball to Cristian Javier, who struck out five batters and allowed one hit in three scoreless innings, and Ryne Stanek and Ryan Pressly each worked a scoreless inning.

Meanwhile, Cole was reaching back and holding the Astros to three hits while striking out 12 batters, including Yordan Alvarez on a 99.1-mph fastball on his final pitch of the game.

“I watched some of it,” Greinke said. “He looked really good, but he’s looked good every time I’ve ever watched him. So nothing different than expected from his pitching.”

After throwing 67 innings in the regular season in last year’s 60-game campaign, the 37-year-old Greinke has had a solid first half in the final year of his contract. He’s 8-3 with a 3.59 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP and 106 hits allowed in 115 1/3 innings. Ten of his 19 outings have been quality starts.

“I like my workload,” he said. “I would like to throw deeper into games more consistently. There’s been a couple of games, including today, that haven’t really gone as far as you’d want to. Hopefully, it could be more consistent throwing six-plus innings each start in the second half.”

Greinke’s first start after the All-Star break is scheduled for July 19 against the Indians in Houston, which gives Greinke eight days to rest the shoulder.

“We’ve got a good treatment plan and a couple of [extra] days of rest,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that will make it better. … That’s the plan.”

The Astros, who have been without star shortstop Carlos Correa the first two games of the series (illness) and without third baseman Alex Bregman for more than three weeks (quad strain), have scored one run in their past three games -- all losses. They are 12-for-90 (.133) with four doubles in the past three games.

• Notes: Correa update; Bregman eyes rehab

“I’ve seen teams go through this, even back in our days,” Baker said. “The Big Red Machine, they got shut out like three or four days in a row and everybody thought that was the end of the world. Sometimes these things happen. You run into a strong group of pitchers. You hit the ball but you’re not finding holes. … We haven’t had a home run in a few days. All those combinations of things equal not scoring much.”