Smoltz flirts with no-hitter; Braves down Nats

Baseball Betting Lines

09/08/2007 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Smoltz nearly etched his name into the history books, tossing seven no-hit innings, as the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals, 7-1, in the start of a three-game series.

Making the 698th appearance and 457th start of his illustrious career, Smoltz (13-7) threw 70 of his 109 pitches for strikes, walked two and fanned 10, but ran out of gas facing Ronnie Belliard to open the eighth. With a 1-2 count, Belliard laced a hanging breaking ball into right field, ending the no- hit bid and Smoltz's evening. Braves manager Bobby Cox began a slow walk to the mound, signaling to the bullpen for right-hander Peter Moylan, while the crowd of 31,116 at Turner Field gave the 40-year-old Smoltz a standing ovation as he departed.

It was the closest Smoltz has come to a no-hitter since April 30, 1999, when tossed a one-hitter against Cincinnati. It also would've been the second no-no in the majors in less than a week, after Clay Buchholz became the 16th Red Sox pitcher and first rookie in club history to toss a no-hitter last Saturday, as Boston blanked the Baltimore Orioles, 10-0, at Fenway Park.

The hit came an inning after Austin Kearns reached on a hard grounder to short that was knocked down by Yunel Escobar and eventually ruled an error.

Moylan surrendered a one-out, RBI double to Ryan Church that cut the Braves' lead to 5-1, but retired the final two batters in succession before Rafael Soriano worked a perfect ninth.

Chipper Jones had three hits, including a three-run homer, and scored three runs for Atlanta, which has won three of its last four games and sits five games behind San Diego in the NL wild card race. The Padres opened a three- game set in Colorado on Friday night.

Joel Hanrahan (4-3) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on four hits in just 3 1/3 innings in the loss for the Nationals, who committed a season-high five errors, including three by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman.

The Braves jumped on the board in the third, taking advantage of a pair of lead-off walks to Willie Harris and Kelly Johnson. Chipper Jones followed, belting a 2-1 pitch into the right field bullpen for a 3-0 lead.

Atlanta tacked on two more in the fourth, as Andruw Jones reached on a throwing error by Zimmerman. Escobar walked, and Smoltz grounded into a fielder's choice that erased Jones at third. Zimmerman made his second error of the inning, however, as he threw the ball away for the second time, advancing the runners to second and third with one out.

Harris came up next, and Hanrahan uncorked a wild pitch that easily scored Escobar, before Smoltz scurried home on Brian Schneider's throwing error.

The drubbing continued in the fifth, as Chipper Jones led off with a base hit and later scored on a two-out single by Jeff Francoeur.

Brian McCann added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 7-0.

Game Notes

Kent Merker was the last Braves pitcher to toss a no-hitter, accomplishing the feat on April 8, 1994 against the Los Angeles Dodgers...The Braves announced time changes for a pair of upcoming games. Friday, September 21 versus Milwaukee moves to a 7:05p.m. (et) start, while Saturday, September 22nd will be nationally broadcast at 3:55p.m...The Braves activated shortstop Edgar Renteria from the 15-day disabled list prior to the game...There was a nine- minute delay in the ninth inning after a security guard was injured tackling a fan who ran onto the field. The security guard eventually got up and walked to a cart without assistance...Washington had a five-game winning streak snapped.