Markakis delivers epic walk-off in 1st '20 start

ATLANTA -- Exactly one month after electing not to play this season due to concerns over the coronavirus, Nick Markakis hit a walk-off home run that gave the Braves a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays on Thursday night at Truist Park.

Welcome to 2020.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Markakis said. “There’s always opportunities and things can change. As you see, it did, and now here I am.”

• Box score

Markakis announced his intentions not to play on July 6, then spent the next three weeks hanging around the house with his wife and three boys. He lifted weights and did cardio work. But he didn’t pick up a bat again until July 29, when he announced MLB had approved his application for reinstatement.

Here’s a brief recap of this past month: Markakis didn’t see live pitching from the time Spring Training shut down in March until he began facing Ian Anderson and other Braves prospects at the team’s alternate training site over the past week. He made his season debut with a pinch-hit appearance on Wednesday, went 0-for-3 through the first eight innings on Thursday, then he hit Wilmer Font’s first-pitch curveball into the right-field seats with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

“You can pull him off the couch at 50 years old and he’s going to be able to hit,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “What a great way to come back.”

Still, even with Markakis’ tremendous bat-to-ball ability, this ending was so unlikely. The 36-year-old veteran’s only previous walk-off homer in a career that has included over 9,000 plate appearances was against the Phillies on Opening Day in 2018.

Asked if he was thinking about the possibility of Markakis ending Thursday's game with a homer, Snitker said he was instead thinking about who might be put on second base to begin the 10th inning.

Yet, Markakis went down and connected on Font's curveball that was just 1.2 feet off the ground, which, per Statcast, tied for the lowest pitch that Markakis has ever homered against.

“Every time I think someone is going to hit one out, it never happens,” Snitker said. “So, I don’t even try to go there.”

Markakis’ homer capped a 7-2 homestand and preserved a promising night for the Braves. Freddie Freeman ended his recent 2-for-23 skid with a two-run homer off Blue Jays top prospect Nate Pearson in the first inning. But the most encouraging development centered on Touki Toussaint, who recorded a career-high nine strikeouts and allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings.

“He was the first person I was looking for when I came in the clubhouse,” Markakis said of Toussaint. “He threw probably as well as I’ve seen him throw.”

Asked how the conversation went, Toussaint said, “He said, ‘Great job’ and I said, ‘Great job.’”

While the postgame conversation between the evening’s two heroes might have been rather bland, this opening homestand certainly wasn’t for the Braves. They were dealt a significant blow on Monday night, when ace Mike Soroka suffered a season-ending torn right Achilles tendon.

Max Fried calmed the mood with a strong start the following night and Sean Newcomb showed encouraging improvement on Wednesday. But Toussaint’s two starts in place of Mike Foltynewicz have been the most encouraging thing the Braves have witnessed as they attempt to fortify their fractured rotation.

This has been a crazy stretch for Toussaint, who spent Summer Camp’s first two weeks forced to work out away from the team while waiting to produce the necessary negative COVID-19 tests.

As for Markakis, he voluntarily spent time away from the team before deciding it was time to return to the game he loves and the team that continues to respect him as a valuable leader.

“He’s a machine,” Toussaint said. “The guy is a professional. He knows what he needs to get ready, coming back and putting the team on his back. First pitch, see you later.”