Charlie Morton didn’t allow a hit until the seventh inning and took a shutout into the eighth, lifting the Atlanta Braves over the St. Louis Cardinals 4-0.
Morton gave up his first hit when Paul Goldschmidt lined a single to left-center with one out, but the right-hander followed by getting Nolan Arenado to pop up and struck out Tyler O’Neill.
Atlanta led 1-0 in the fifth on Guillermo Heredia’s third homer. Ozzie Albies had an RBI triple in the sixth, and Abraham Almonte followed with an RBI double to make it 3-0.
John Gant took the loss for St. Louis, working 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out four. He slips to 4-5.
Tommy Edman was back in the lineup and went 0 for 4 after missing the last two games with torso tightness. … 2B Edmundo Sosa was not available after getting hit by a pitch in the right hand in Wednesday’s win over Miami.
St. Louis RHP Carlos Martinez (3-7, 5.54) will start for the Cardinals tonight, 5:25 with the pregame and the first pitch at 6:20 on KIRX.
The Cubs are all alone in first place, one game ahead of second place Milwaukee, the third place Reds are three games out, the fourth place Cardinals are four games off the pace.