Kyle

Karros

Karros had missed each of the team’s previous two games due to inflammation in his left biceps. He’s right back in there at the hot corner and will bat fifth for the Rockies against Royals’ right-hander Michael Wacha on Friday evening at Coors Field.

It’ll be Willi Castro taking another turn at the hot corner with Karros grabbing a seat for the second consecutive contest after being scratched from Tuesday’s lineup with left biceps inflammation. The fact that he hasn’t required a trip to the injured list is an encouraging sign. He’s presumably day-to-day heading into Friday’s series opener against the Royals.

Karros is day-to-day for now. It’ll be veteran utility specialist Willi Castro taking over at the hot corner in his absence. There should be an update on his status after the contest, but it doesn’t sound like a significant concern at the moment.

Karros doubled and scored in the first inning, then added an RBI single in the third inning that drove in Jake McCarthy from third base. Karros breaks out of a minifunk here as he’d not cleared multiple hits in a game since the All-Star Break, but he’s still been a nice find for the Rockies — he’s hitting .263/.363/.431 in 297 at-bats, and has earned more or less full-time work despite finishing May with a .215/.316/.319 batting line.

Karros cut into the Giants’ lead with a solo homer off JT Brubaker in the eighth inning, a 435-foot blast to left field. It was his ninth of the season while hitting .266/.364/.445 with 47 runs scored and 34 RBI across 319 plate appearances.

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.

With his dad awkwardly weighing in from the Dodgers broadcast booth, Karros went 3-for-11 with eight total bases and three walks the last three days. He’s escaped the bottom third of the Rockies order in recent days, and his OPS cracked .800 tonight for the first time all season. He’s still probably not going to offer much value in shallow leagues in the second half, but his stock as a potential long-term third baseman for the Rockies has increased with his performance to date.

Karros turned a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 lead with a three-run homer off Drew Smith, and it was clobbered an estimated 457 feet. The 23-year-old has been a relative brightspot for the Rockies, and after slashing an excellent .357/.444/.586 in June, he’s off to a nice start to the month of July.

Karros started 47 of the Rockies’ first 56 games, but he is hitting just .204/.306/.287 with two homers and 14 RBI in 183 plate appearances. The Rockies could consider sending him down for a spell and giving more time to Willi Castro and Chad Stevens at third after one of their injured outfielders comes off the IL.

Karros absolutely clobbered a 438-foot blast off Roki Sasaki to make it a 3-2 game. The 23-year-old also singled and came around to score a run. The two-reach game with the homer puts his slash at .211/.352/.281, but he’s passed the eye test a few times in the young campaign.