Curtis Mead absent from Nationals’ lineup Friday

Karros fisted a little liner past a drawn-in infield for his big hit, giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead in the ninth. They added one more afterwards, which proved important after the Giants scored one of their own in the bottom of the ninth. It’s Karros’s third three-hit game as a major leaguer but definitely the most important of the three; the others came in a 23-9 win over the A’s on June 14 and in a 15-3 win over these same Giants just a week ago.

Gordon struck out just one. He allowed eight hits, but only Rafael Devers’ second-inning homer did any damage. Gordon stayed 0-2 with a 6.44 ERA in 50 1/3 innings over five starts and seven relief appearances, but the Rockies have won his last two starts after taking losses in each of his first 10 outings.

Romano came in with a 4-2 lead to begin the ninth and walked two of the three batters he faced. Casey Schmitt then came up and hit a liner to center that Cole Carrigg couldn’t quite make a sliding catch on. Except first base ump Lance Barksdale signaled that he did. The Rockies thought the play was live and tagged the runners at second and first, which would have ended the game. However, there was a crew chief review that correctly ruled the ball a single and advanced the runners to second and third. A sac fly and a walk followed, bringing up Bryce Eldridge with two outs and the bases loaded. Romano was pulled in favor Mejia, and Eldridge hit a routine grounder on the first pitch he saw. It’s the fourth save for Mejia this season. Romano might get another chance in the ninth, but this remains a situation to avoid.

Ray owes Dylan Smith dinner after this one; he walked all three batters he faced to start the sixth inning, but Smith was able to strand the bases loaded and preserve the tie after taking over. Ray struck out four and walked six in all. Just 53 of his 100 pitches were strikes. It’s Ray’s sixth career start with six walks and second of this year. He’s now tied with Bubba Chandler for the most walks in the majors at 52. He topped the NL and finished fourth in the majors with 73 last year.

Single, walk, bunt single, single. That was enough to doom Kilian tonight. In total, the three hits had a combined xBA of .970. Mickey Moniak grounded through the right side of the infield to start the frame. After a walk, Jake McCarthy went to sacrifice the runners, but he wound up with a hit because Casey Schmitt was playing rather far back at third for some reason; McCarthy had already showed bunt twice in the at-bat. After that, Kyle Karros hit a ball up the middle at just 69 mph, but that was still hard enough to elude a drawn-in infield and plate two runs. Combined with his four-run outing in a loss to the A’s on June 25, this makes two really ugly lines for Kilian in the last few weeks. Still, in neither blown save was he hit very hard at all. He’ll likely remain the Giants’ closer for now, but the team does have a potential alternative with Keaton Winn back from the IL. Winn retired two of the three batters he faced tonight.

Devers drove in all of the Giants’ runs. His two singles were actually his hardest-hit balls of the game, leaving his bat at 109 and 107 mph. His homer was hit just 98 mph and would have made it out of 16 ballparks, according to Statcast. Devers is up to 19 homers and 52 RBI on the season.

X-rays were negative. Waldschmidt made no reaction to pull back his bunt as a 100-mph sinker from Edgardo Henriquez got in on him and took the pitch off the hand. He should consider himself very fortunate not to have suffered a break.

Brayan Bello will remain in Triple-A for now. Rivera made his MLB debut in April, pitching 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in his one appearance. He’s been working in relief in Triple-A, so he’ll likely throw only a couple of innings in his start. Brett Harris figures to be sent down.

Home-field advantage. In the top of the eighth, Michael Harris II hit a flyball to right that would have been a homer in 26 ballparks, only to see it caught by Jordan Walker. In the bottom of the inning, Crooks sent one to right-center that was a homer in 24 ballparks, and in this case, Busch was one of them. In the top of the ninth, Drake Baldwin hit a ball to center that was a homer in 12 ballparks, but again, it was an out in St. Louis. Crooks’ homer was his second in 66 plate appearances since being called up. Having fallen back behind Pedro Pages on the depth start, Crooks has started just one of the last nine games, leaving his roster spot in doubt heading into the second half.

Leahy allowed one hit, walked none and struck out two before the nearly three-hour delay. He ends the first half 7-4 with a 3.86 ERA and a 73/33 K/BB over 86 1/3 innings. He spent the previous three years pitching in relief, so in order to keep his workload in check, the Cardinals might return him to the pen down the stretch. He figures to remain a starter for at least the next several weeks, though.