ATLANTA (AP) — A Los Angeles Dodgers rotation filled with injuries has seen a new ace emerge in right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Yamamoto pitched like the leader of a rotation — and perhaps one of the game's top starters — in the Dodgers' 2-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and giving up no runs.
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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stands in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto gestures after a double play ended the top of the third inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Friday, April 25, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) works against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) reacts after cathing a ball hit by Atlanta Braves' Sean Murphy in the X inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) works against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) reacts in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
“He's turning himself into a staff ace,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game.
Austin Riley doubled with two outs in the sixth inning for Atlanta’s first hit off Yamamoto (4-2). The right-hander lowered his ERA to 0.90, the best mark in the major leagues. He left the game with a 2-0 lead after allowing one hit with two walks and six strikeouts in six scoreless innings.
Yamamoto confirmed he feels he is pitching at the same top form he showed in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in his native Japan.
“Yes, I've been able to be at a high level,” Yamamoto said through a translator. “I think it feels very close to my top pitching.”
Yamamoto said he wasn't focused on the possibility of a no-hitter, but Roberts said it entered his thoughts “for a quick minute.”
“He had no-hit stuff tonight,” Roberts said, adding the right-hander's control and mastery of his splitter set the foundation for his dominance.
“I thought tonight the splitter was fantastic,” Roberts said. “His command was back to being who he is. The last (game) he wasn't that sharp.”
But even when giving up four walks in a 3-0 loss to Pittsburgh on April 25, Yamamoto's less impressive starts have still been above par. He has yet to allow more than five hits or two earned runs in any of his seven starts this season.
The emergence of Yamamoto as an ace is especially important as the Dodgers try to adjust to having three starting pitchers on the injured list. The staff is without Blake Snell (shoulder inflammation), Tyler Glasnow (shoulder inflammation) and Clayton Kershaw (recovery from toe and knee surgery).
Yamamoto has allowed only four earned runs in 40 innings. For Roberts, that places him among the game's elite starting pitchers.
“You look at a handful of guys that when they take the mound you know they're going to go six innings and give you a chance to win the game,” Roberts said.
“There's been so much consistent production from Yoshi, it is real.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stands in the dugout during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto gestures after a double play ended the top of the third inning of a baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Friday, April 25, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) works against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) reacts after cathing a ball hit by Atlanta Braves' Sean Murphy in the X inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) works against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) reacts in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves, Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
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)
