ATLANTA (AP) — AJ Smith-Shawver took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 on Monday night.Santiago Espinal led off the eighth with a clean single to center field for Cincinnati’s lone hit. He was later erased on an inning-ending double play.Matt Olson drove in two runs with an inside-the-park homer in the third. Reds rookie left fielder Tyler Callihan broke his left forearm on the play when he crashed hard into the padded wall in foul territory trying to make a sliding catch of Olson’s flyball.Smith-Shawver (2-2) was trying for the first no-hitter in the majors this season. The 22-year-old rookie right-hander struck out five and walked four in eight splendid innings, throwing 60 of his 99 pitches for strikes. It was his 11th major league start and fifth this year.Enyel De Los Santos issued a walk in the ninth before finishing the one-hitter for Atlanta's second shutout of the season.Kent Mercker pitched Atlanta's most recent no-hitter at Dodger Stadium on April…

ATLANTA (AP) — AJ Smith-Shawver was rolling right along when he realized his Atlanta Braves teammates were beginning to avoid him.They had a good reason. The 22-year-old rookie right-hander hadn’t given up a hit against the Cincinnati Reds — and the rest of the Braves didn’t want to jinx him.After pitching into the eighth inning for the first time as a professional, Smith-Shawver wasn't quite able to complete the no-hitter Monday night in his 11th major league start — and 70th overall since getting drafted in 2021. But his only blemish in a 4-0 win was Santiago Espinal's sharp single to center field leading off the eighth.“I probably started like really kind of noticing in the fifth, and everybody really got away from me sixth and seventh. And I was like, OK, this is real,” Smith-Shawver said. “Just trying to go out there and execute pitches, just do the same thing I’ve been doing, but just with a little bit more adrenaline.”Braves fans gave Smith-Shawver a nice ovation after he gave up the hit, and another when…

ATLANTA (AP) — AJ Smith-Shawver's bid for a no-hitter was broken up when Santiago Espinal led off the eighth inning with a clean single to center field, giving the Cincinnati Reds their first hit against the Atlanta Braves pitcher Monday night.Espinal's base hit came on the 93rd pitch from Smith-Shawver, who worked into the eighth inning for the first time as a professional.Smith-Shawver struck out five and walked four — two in the first inning and two in the fourth. He gave up at least four hits in all four of his previous starts this season.The right-hander got a popup and a double play to end the eighth, then was lifted after 99 pitches with Atlanta leading 4-0. Enyel De Los Santos entered in the ninth for the Braves.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb