Though the Rays won’t celebrate until they mathematically clinch a postseason berth, the club entered Monday’s play with the best record in the American League and is in prime position to play into October.

Over the next three weeks, the focus for Tampa Bay will be to rack up as many wins as possible, but it will also look to try and get some pitchers back healthy and some key players trending in the right direction.

Charlie Morton is one of the players the Rays hope to have at full strength towards the end of the season, and the right-hander had another encouraging start in the Rays’ 6-1 loss to the Nationals at Nationals Park.

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“I thought Charlie was really good,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “Everything looked really, really good, and we’re really encouraged by his outing. The overall stuff was really, really good and how efficient he was.”

In just his second start back after missing three weeks with right shoulder inflammation, Morton allowed three runs over five innings. While Morton and the Rays would’ve liked to keep the Nationals off the scoreboard, completing five frames gets Morton a step closer to pitching without any inning restrictions.

After the game, Cash admitted that allowing Morton to go five innings wasn’t part of the plan, but how efficient he was gave him that opportunity. Morton needed just 57 pitches to get through the five frames, and he retired his last six batters on just 14 pitches.

“That’s a major goal,” Morton said. “I was thankful that they let me go back out there for the fifth because that’s a pretty big deal. I had three ups in my last outing and five tonight, so that’s a positive.”

While Morton was pleased with his overall outing, he pointed at the third inning as the one costly frame. Morton gave the Nationals credit for staying back on the breaking ball and fouling off pitches, but his signature curveball remains a work in progress. The Rays’ right-hander threw 22 of them on Monday, and there were some mixed results.

Nationals outfielder Adam Eaton got Morton’s best curveball -- at 79.6 mph that started at the top of the strike zone before dropping low and inside on Eaton -- in the first inning. The swing was essentially the equivalent of an ankle breaker in basketball.

Outside of that curveball, the Nats’ offense was able to capitalize on a couple of Morton breaking balls that lacked that kind of depth. Both Trea Turner and Kurt Suzuki hit 0-2 curveballs in the third inning to drive in runs.

“It was kind of a weird outing because for the most part, it was pretty good,” Morton said. “But it was just that third inning. I felt pretty good about the outing, but unfortunately I just let them score too many runs.”

Aside from Morton, the Rays’ offense was unable to push through any runs against Max Scherzer over seven innings. The Rays did have plenty of chances in the first three frames, stranding five and going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

“We had some good at-bats early on and even drove his pitch count up a little bit, even though I know he’ll go out there and throw 120 pitches, no problem,” Cash said. “But we had nothing to show for it. Then he settled in and got in his groove and just kind of reset his pitch count because he got really efficient, and his fastball seemed like it got better as the game went on.”

Randy Arozarena was the one bright spot offensively on Monday, launching his fourth home run of the season in just 17 at-bats. Arozarena has hit safely in six of his last eight at-bats and has three home runs in the last two days.

“That home run he hit tonight, that was impressive,” Rays infielder Joey Wendle said. “What he’s done in his first [17 at-bats] has been impressive, but tonight was kind of a head scratcher for some of us. That ball got out in a hurry. He’s fun to watch right now, to say the least.”