When Nick Markakis rolled his right wrist making a diving catch Wednesday, Braves manager Brian Snitker feared the veteran right fielder had broken it.
When Braves catcher Tyler Flowers was hit in the palm of left hand near just below the wrist by a 94-mph foul-tipped Jim Johnson sinker Aug. 28, Flowers was certain that his hand was broken.
To the relief of both players and Braves officials, neither player had a broken bone or other significant damage.
Flowers, who had bruising of three small bones in his hand, was activated from the 10-day disabled list Friday and returned to the starting lineup for Friday night’s game against the Marlins at SunTrust Park.
Markakis has bruising of his wrist, but tests otherwise came back negative, and the Braves hope to have him back in the lineup by Tuesday’s series opener at Washington. He was limited to pinch-running duties Thursday and will likely serve in that that role through the rest of the four-game series against the Marlins that ends Sunday.
Jace Peterson made his second consecutive start in place of Markakis on Friday, after going 2-for-4 with a two-run double in Thursday’s 6-5 win against the Marlins.
“I think it’s literally a day-by-day thing” with Markakis, Snitker said. “If his bruising improves, kind of like Tyler’s (did), we’ll shoot for Tuesday. Tough thing to try to torque a bat when your hand is bruised and all that. I’m just glad that it wasn’t anything more than a bruise. But I’ve got a feeling that a guy like that is going to heal pretty quick. ...
“When he landed on it and rolled it over a little bit, I was like, oh man. I had visions of what Micah (Johnson) went through in spring training a little bit. So it was good that (tests) were negative and it’s just a bruise.”
Johnson broke his wrist when his glove hand rolled much as Markakis’ did on a diving catch in a spring-training game.
Flowers is back for the final four weeks of a season that has been the best of the Roswell native’s nine-year career.
“A lot quicker than I guess was expected or anticipated,” said Flowers, who was cleared to begin hitting Wednesday and deemed himself ready to play after two pain-free days of batting practice. “Range of motion and everything came back pretty quick. Just tender to the touch until a couple of days ago. I’ve got a little attachment on my glove now, a little pad. Hopefully I don’t get hit again, but if I do hopefully that stops.”
He’s also using a bat with a larger knob on its handle, which he said would keep it from digging into the still-sore spot on his palm.
Flowers entered Friday with career-bests in average (.279), on-base percentage (.376) and slugging percentage (.446) and had 11 home runs and 43 RBIs in 87 games and 327 plate appearances, four homers and seven RBIs shy of the career bests he set in 2014 in 127 games and 442 plate appearances for the White Sox.
“When he (hurt it), we didn’t know how long it was going to be,” Snitker said. “Then as we got into (the recovery), it was kind of clearing up a lot faster than they thought it would, the bruising and everything. It’s good to get him back. He’ll catch tonight and take R.A. (Dickey’s start) on Sunday, too.”
Snitker said the Braves would carry four catchers, at least for the time being, with Flowers and Suzuki handling most if not all of the starts. While Flowers was on the disabled list they had added minor league catchers David Freitas and Tony Sanchez (who came from the Angels in the Brandon Phillips trade).
