Atlanta ? The St. Louis Cardinals finally got a hit off Damian Moss. It didn’t do them any good.

The Australian left-hander allowed just one hit in eight innings, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Cardinals 2-1 on Gary Sheffield’s leadoff homer in the ninth Sunday night.

Atlanta's Jason Marquis is called safe at home by umpire Jeff Nelson as St. Louis Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny tries to make the tag. The Braves beat the Cards, 2-1, on Sunday in Atlanta.

The Braves, running away in the NL East, won their sixth in a row and swept the three-game series against the Central-leading Cardinals.

Overall, St. Louis has a five-game losing streak, tying its season high and bringing second-place Cincinnati within two games.

Moss pitched seven no-hit innings in his other appearance against the Cardinals on May 3. He was lifted after throwing 116 pitches and didn’t get a decision as the Braves won 2-1 in 11 innings.

These days, hardly anyone is hitting Moss. In his last three starts, the rookie has given up a mere four hits in 22 innings.

“I’ve never been one of those guys who gave up a lot of hits,” Moss said. “I don’t know what it is because I’ve never faced myself. I can’t explain it.”

The Cardinals can’t figure him out, either.

“The guy on the other side was awesome,” said St. Louis starter Andy Benes, who gave up only four hits in 71/3 innings. “There are days when you have to go out and win the game 1-0.”

The Braves scored the tying run in the eighth and Sheffield gave Atlanta its sixth straight victory, hitting a 397-foot shot into the left-field stands to lead off the ninth against Dave Veres (4-7).

Down 0-2 in the count, Sheffield basically hit the ball one-handed, lunging at a split-finger fastball that didn’t break outside far enough.

“When the count is in your favor, you can take a shot for the fences,” he said. “I was just trying to make contact.”

Veres was stunned when the ball sailed over the fence.

“I’ll take that pitch nine out of 10 times,” he said. “It was 2 inches in front of the plate and 2 inches outside. It’s amazing he could hit it that hard that far.”

John Smoltz (2-2) got the win with a scoreless ninth, but Moss did most of the work with another dominating performance. Mike Matheny had the lone hit for the Cardinals, a third-inning single that led to an unearned run.

Benes took a shutout into the eighth, but Henry Blanco knocked out the right-hander with a one-out double off the left-field wall.

The slow-running Blanco was replaced by Jason Marquis, a starting pitcher who got the win Saturday. That proved to be a key move.

Marquis stayed put when Michael Crudale struck out pinch-hitter Matt Franco on three pitches. But Rafael Furcal, who barely missed making the third out when a foul pop dropped between three players, singled up the middle to bring home the tying run.

Matheny blocked the plate and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa argued that Marquis never touched home. But umpire Jeff Nelson ruled that the sliding runner barely nicked the plate with his left foot before tumbling over backward.

“I was trying to push his front leg out of the way,” Marquis said. “By the time he tagged me, I was already by him. There’s no doubt in my mind that I touched the plate.”

Giants 10, Pirates 5

Pittsburgh Barry Bonds hit his 598th career homer, one of six San Francisco home runs, and J.T. Snow had a three-run shot and five RBIs as the Giants roughed up Pittsburgh. Bonds went 3-for-4 and scored three times while homering for the second game in a row. His 31st home run of the season led off the ninth inning and left him two away from joining Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays as the only players with 600 homers.

Cubs 4, Rockies 1

Chicago Mark Prior struck out 13 in his first career complete game, pitching a five-hitter to lead Chicago past Colorado. Prior (5-3), in his 14th career start, took a shutout into the eighth inning.

Diamondbacks 12, Mets 7

New York Luis Gonzalez hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the seventh inning off Mark Guthrie (5-1) to lift Arizona over New York. Arizona won for the 11th time in 13 games and remained a season-high six games ahead of Los Angeles in the NL West.

Astros 5, Expos 4

Montreal Kirk Saarloos won his fourth straight start and got his first career RBIs with a two-run double to lead Houston over Montreal before a crowd of 20,027 for a Gary Carter bobblehead promotion.

Dodgers 4, Phillies 3

Philadelphia Omar Daal homered and pitched 61/3 effective innings against his former team as Los Angeles beat Philadelphia. Adrian Beltre added a two-run homer for the Dodgers against Brett Myers (1-2).

Marlins 7, Brewers 2

Miami Kevin Millar led Florida’s home run attack and Michael Tejera (7-4) pitched seven shutout innings against Milwaukee.

Reds 15, Padres 10

San Diego Russell Branyan homered three times and scored the go-ahead run on Brandon Larson’s ninth-inning single off Trevor Hoffman as Cincinnati beat San Diego.