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WASHINGTON – This is a classic case of addition by addition.
The Atlanta Braves found Nick Markakis on Friday. In the news, they just became a more dangerous October.
Markakis was playing his first match since a broken wrist on July 26. Faced with the national ace Max Scherzer, in the second inning, he lined up a single in the center of the field. On his next trip against the three-time winner of Cy Young, Markakis scored twice in the center and scored the first round of the Braves game. In the fifth, he found the bases loaded and just failed to hit a grand slam, preferring to jump into a 385-foot flying bag that sent running back Nats Victor Robles to the wall in the center. left and extended ahead of Atlanta on 3-0.
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"I was just up there to try to put myself at ease again," said Markakis, who had struck .284 with a .787 OPS at the time of his injury. "Your first game back after seven weeks against a pitcher like this is not an easy task, so I was delighted, I did not see as many shots as I would like, but when I saw my toss, I tried not to miss that. "
He did not miss much of anything in the outside field either.
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In the typical Markaki way, no piece was a work of art (no more than the ball that fell under the glove in the seventh and was charitably directed against a double). But since Markakis has now played a total of four games in the left field for 12 years, the Braves will be happy to live it. Just as they will gladly live with the return of Markakis in training.
For seven weeks that Markakis had his wrist broken, the Braves' outfield was a mess. Austin Riley, who came out of nowhere to win the Rookie of the Month award in May, collapsed again, and then found himself on the list of injured with a knee sprain in early August. Ender Inciarte, center day center-wide center player, who missed two months with a lumbar strain and came back shortly before Markakis was injured, again hit mid-Illinois. August with a stiff hamstring. Riley and veteran reserve Adam Duvall, two-handed hitter, were good against lefties, but they can not trust the right-handed, and left-handed striker Matt Joyce was the opposite. Without Acuna, who played all three positions (not at the same time) and threatens to join the exclusive 40-40 club, Atlanta's attacking field may have collapsed on itself and turned into a hole black certifiable. Or something like that. Now, with Markakis back, the Braves universe is definitely more copacetic.
"My god," said manager Brian Snitker following Markakis' return to the Atlanta atmosphere. "It's just something else, a live BP and two of the hardest hit bats he's had all year, and he's had two really good games on the left. It's huge for our team and for our team to have it back there. "
To be clear, the "gigantic" Snitker refers to is more about the future than the past. Despite the helplessness in the outside field, the Braves got on well, thank you, without their veteran. In fact, their record of 30-14 during the Markakis' absence was at the top of the National League and 2.5 times better than that of the powerful Dodgers. Over this period, they managed to extend their lead in the three-game division against a Washington team as strong as any other league team. But that was already the case and now it is: for the Braves to reach their goals, they have overtaken Los Angeles for the first seed in the NL and won a playoff series for the first time in nearly 20 years old (2001 was the last time) to go all the way, they will need all hands on the bridge. On Friday, they added a pair of very capable hands.
"It was great to find Kakes," Soroka said. "I know that he really wanted to come back and make an impression, and I think he did it from the start, that gave us a little life."
More importantly, it gave Atlanta even better luck in October.
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