ATLANTA — Matt Olson hit a first-inning grand slam, Charlie Morton won his fifth straight start and the major league-leading Atlanta Braves routed the Chicago White Sox 9-0 on Friday night.
Olson, an All-Star first baseman and the NL leader with 30 homers and 76 RBIs, made it 4-0 with his seventh career grand slam and his second this season. Atlanta, which has won 10 straight home games, leads the majors with 170 homers and began the night with 20 more than the No. 2 team, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“We were playing good ball before the break and leading up to it, and sometimes when things are going well you're not sure if you want the days off, but I think everybody, throughout the course of the season, you need that blow midway through,” said Olson, the first player in franchise history with 30 long balls in the club’s first 90 games. “It was good to come out and play the game we played today."
The Braves (61-29) have gone deep in 27 straight games, the longest streak in the franchise's modern era. Olson's blast sailed 434 feet to right.
Morton (10-6) gave up three hits, walked one and struck out four in seven innings, lowering his ERA 23 points to 3.20. The 39-year-old right-hander retired the first 10 batters he faced before Tim Anderson singled in the fourth. Luis Robert Jr. promptly grounded into one of three double plays by the White Sox.
“I feel like a lot of those balls were hit in the right place at the right time," said Morton, who has allowed one earned run in his last three starts, a span of 19 innings. “Any time you can go deeper in the game and not have to throw as many pitches is great. Try to save the bullpen a little bit. Just work a decent tempo, but it was nice to get in a little bit of a rhythm. I did my job."
Michael Kopech (3-8) gave up four runs, one hit and four walks in two-thirds of an inning. He had been on the injured list since June 29 with right shoulder inflammation. He threw strikes on just 14 of 38 pitches.
“I don't know if there's a way to explain it, really,” he said. “In this game, you have to be able to go out there and be consistent. I wasn't able to take one pitch to the next. I put us in a hole. Obviously I wanted to come back from the break and set a tone and change the pace a little bit. I wasn't able to do that."
Chicago has lost six of seven, eight of 10 and 19 of 28. The White Sox are 1-8 in their last eight series openers and were shut out for the seventh time this season.
Robert was in the lineup after tweaking his right calf in Monday's Home Run Derby and sitting out the All-Star Game. He went 0 for 3.
Touki Toussaint, facing his former team, pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief before running into trouble in the sixth when he loaded the bases with no outs. He limited the damage to Ozzie Albies' sacrifice fly that made it 5-0.
Eddie Rosario and Michael Harris II added RBI singles and Albies drilled a two-run double off Bryan Shaw in the seventh for an 9-0 lead.
TRAINER'S ROOM
White Sox: 3B Yoán Moncada was scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Friday with Triple-A Charlotte. He has been out since June 14 with lower back inflammation.
Braves: LHP A.J. Minter, tied for the major league lead with 44 appearances, is day-to-day after leaving last Saturday's win at Tampa Bay with tightness in his left pectoral muscle. ... LHP Max Fried is set to make his second rehab appearance on Saturday, this time with Class A Rome. The team's ace has been out since May 6 with a strained left forearm. ... RHP Nick Anderson (shoulder strain) was placed on the 60-day injured list and LHP Lucas Luetge's contract was selected from Triple-A Gwinnett.
STARTING HOT
Atlanta’s 95 first-inning runs lead the majors. It's the most runs scored by any team, in any inning this season — 15 more than Texas’ fourth-inning total of 80. The Braves' franchise mark for first-inning runs is 127, set in 1999. The 2000 St. Louis Cardinals hold the NL record with 147.
STAYING PUT
Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said before the game he is sticking Anderson, the team's struggling shortstop, in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. The two-time All-Star went 2 for 4 as his average rose four points to .227, but he is still without a homer and has just 13 RBIs in 69 games.
UP NEXT
Braves RHP Spencer Strider (11-2, 3.44 ERA) will face RHP Lance Lynn (5-8, 6.03) on Saturday as the teams play the second game of a three-game series. Strider, a first-time All-Star, leads the majors with 166 strikeouts.
