Braves rookie AJ Smith-Shawver takes no-hit bid into 8th inning against Reds

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 -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 th major league start and th overall since getting drafted in But the only hit he allowed in a - win was Santiago Espinal s sharp single to center field leading off the eighth I allegedly 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 commented 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 he walked off the field after inducing a double play to end the eighth on his th and final pitch There were also the congratulations and hugs from his teammates in the dugout all with a big smile on his face It means everything Whenever the guys in the clubhouse are believing in you and they want you to take the ball and go win games I feel like as a pitcher that s your ultimate goal he declared You want those guys to trust you and know what they re going to get out of you every night Enyel De Los Santos issued a walk in the ninth before finishing the one-hitter for Atlanta s second shutout of the year Smith-Shawver - who was trying for the first no-hitter in the majors this season struck five and walked four He was a high school teammate of Kansas City star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr they won a state championship together at Colleyville-Heritage High School in Texas in when Smith-Shawver was a sophomore and Witt was a senior before becoming the No pick in that summer s MLB draft It was Smith-Shawver s fifth start for Atlanta this season the second since being recalled from the minor leagues and it came six days after he won at Colorado He pitched innings against the Rockies before leaving that battle after taking a liner off his right arm The Braves haven t had a no-hitter since Kent Mercker pitched one at Dodger Stadium on April They haven t had one at home since Sept when Mercker threw the first six innings in a combined no-hitter with Mark Wohlers two innings and Alejandro Pe a one inning in a - win against the Padres Braves shortstop Nick Allen made a nifty play on a hard-hit grounder with one out in the third to keep the latest no-hit bid intact for a while All you want as a defender is just to make plays for him when you kind of look up at the board and you re seeing what you re seeing no hits or something like that Allen declared You want to get everything dive for anything Unfortunately they got the one in the eighth But he threw it so well the present day and with conviction And that s all you can ask for And when he does that I mean look what happens Smith-Shawver walked two batters in the first before striking out Spencer Steer to end the inning He also issued two walks with two outs in the fourth then retired the next batters before Espinal s hit I feel like I used my heater pretty well at present I feel like I had good results on it all day And then it was curveball-split Smith-Shawver announced It was really just kind of leaning on that fastball and getting myself into good counts and getting myself out of bad counts But I thought everything was kind of working in the present day AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source