A.J. Smith-Shawver carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning and the Atlanta Braves defeated the visiting Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Monday in the opener of their three-game series.
Smith-Shawver (2-2) pitched a career-high eight innings and allowed no runs on one hit — a leadoff single by Santiago Espinal in the eighth — with four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 99 pitches, 60 for strikes.
Smith-Shawver was trying to become the first Atlanta pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Kent Mercker on April 8, 1994, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Enyel De Los Santos pitched the ninth inning and worked around a two-out walk to nail down Atlanta’s second shutout win of the season.
The loser was Reds right-hander Brady Singer (4-2). He pitched six innings and allowed four runs on seven hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Alex Verdugo had two of the Braves’ seven hits.
The Braves put up four runs in the third inning to take the lead. Verdugo doubled home Nick Allen, then scored on Austin Riley’s RBI single. That set up an unusual play that ended up with Matt Olson collecting an inside-the-park home run.
Olson sliced an opposite-field liner to left field and rookie Tyler Callihan raced to the corner to make a play. He stretched out for the catch, temporarily had the ball in his glove, but slammed into the side wall and the ball bounced loose. Olson went to home for his sixth home run of the year.
Callihan, a rookie playing in only his fourth game, lay on the field, clutching his arm, until medical personnel came to attend to him and walk him off the field. He was later diagnosed with a broken left forearm. Blake Dunn finished the game in left field.
Cincinnati’s Elly De La Cruz went 0-for-4 to end his career-long 23-game on-base streak.
