DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies got to shake hands after a game for only the second time in three weeks, and they celebrated after a rookie outpitched the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.
“You guys can probably hear it now. We’re in pretty good spirits,” Chase Dollander said after Wednesday's 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves stopped an eight-game losing streak. “I would never say we were down in the locker room. Obviously, losing’s not fun, but at the same time, we know that we’re capable of winning and we can put a winning product on the field, so that’s exactly what we did today.”
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Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos works against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos reacts after retiring Atlanta Braves' Eli White to end a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies' Brenton Doyle flies out against the Atlanta Braves to end the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos is congratulated after a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings, left, hugs relief pitcher Zach Agnos after he closed out the Atlanta Braves to end a baseball game, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado had lost 16 of its previous 17 games. At 5-25, the Rockies avoided becoming just the second MLB team since 1901 to lose at least 26 of its first 30 games of the season.
Only the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who went on to go 54-107, had a worse 30-game start.
“There's frustration, sure. Guys are angry,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “These guys are professional baseball players who want to win games and want to do well and it just hasn't happened as a group, right? We just don't have enough guys playing well. For us to get going, we have 26 players, they all have to do a little better, maybe not all 26, but we need a higher majority of the guys to perform and right now, we only have a few guys.”
Brenton Doyle hit a tiebreaking home run in the third inning. Ryan McMahon went 0 for 3 and extended his hitless streak to a team record 0 for 34, one more than Desi Relaford in 2005. McMahon has two hits in his past 58 at-bats.
“We have to as a group and more players have to do a little bit more on the field,” Black said.
Doyle’s home run ended a skid of 20 consecutive at-bats without a hit.
“Everyone in here is a competitor, so losing definitely hurts,” Doyle said. “But we know we have to celebrate the wins. That’s what we’re going to do today.”
Dollander, the Rockies’ No. 9 overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft, got his second big league win in his fifth major league start by limiting the Braves to one run and two hits in 5 2/3 innings as part of a three-hitter.
He left because of a cracked fingernail on the middle finger of his throwing hand.
“This is a great confidence-builder for him, going up against Chris Sale, a Cy Young Award winner, and he basically outdueled him," Black said. "What a great feat today for him.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos works against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos reacts after retiring Atlanta Braves' Eli White to end a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies' Brenton Doyle flies out against the Atlanta Braves to end the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Zach Agnos is congratulated after a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies catcher Jacob Stallings, left, hugs relief pitcher Zach Agnos after he closed out the Atlanta Braves to end a baseball game, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.
Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.
By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.
“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”
Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.
It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.
Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.
Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.
“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.
Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.
The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.
Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.
When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.
Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.
“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”
Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.
“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”
And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.
Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.
Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.
While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.
Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.
Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.
“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
