HOUSTON -- Chase Dollander has performed well coming out of the bullpen so far this season, but on Thursday night he delivered his best performance yet.
Dollander came on in relief of opener Juan Mejia with two outs in the first and followed with 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the Rockies’ 3-2 win over the Astros at Daikin Park.
The right-hander struck out a career-high nine and yielded one hit – a double by Carlos Correa with no outs in the sixth. Dollander's nine strikeouts were the most by a Rockies reliever since Bruce Ruffin had nine, also against the Astros, in Colorado's inaugural season of 1993.
Dollander became the first pitcher in club history to toss at least five innings of relief while allowing one hit or fewer and striking out at least nine.
“I think he’s been throwing the ball well all year,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “The fastball was overpowering at 100 [mph]. The sweeper, the offspeed stuff is all good. He was challenging hitters in the strike zone. Just going at them. That’s what you want to see from him.”
The Astros’ lone threat against Dollander came in the sixth as they put runners on second and third following Correa’s double, but Dollander induced a groundout by Christian Walker before striking out Joey Loperfido and Cam Smith to end the inning.
Dollander had thrown at least four innings in three of his previous four relief appearances this season, but Thursday was his first scoreless outing.
“Definitely a lot of confidence being built up right now,” Dollander said. “I came into this season with a lot of confidence with all the work I put in during the offseason, and I think we’re finally starting to see it come to fruition. I’m constantly working, always trying to get better. It’s just now starting to show up. It’s a great feeling.”
Dollander improved to 2-1 on the season after going 2-12 in his rookie year in 2025. He said that a mental switch has started to click for him.
“After talking to some of the veteran guys, it’s just go after them,” Dollander said. “Don’t be scared. Don’t be intimidated no matter who is in the box. Just go after them. I have really good stuff. It needs to be in the zone. That’s what they told me to do, and I feel like I’ve been able to do that so far.”
Of Dollander’s 86 pitches, he threw 28 fastballs and 20 sinkers. He got 14 whiffs on 39 swings, including seven on the fastball. Five of his nine strikeouts came on the fastball, which had an average velocity of 99.4 mph but topped out at 100.3 mph.
“A lot of really good stuff [came] out of that one,” Dollander said. “I commanded the ball really well. Offspeed was really good. My only gripe was probably the changeup. I wish I had one of those pitches back, which was the Correa double, but you’re not going to be perfect every time. We were able to piece it together.”
Over the three-game series in Houston, the Rockies’ bullpen threw 18 scoreless innings.
Schaeffer described his relievers as resilient and rock solid, but also said they attack the strike zone, a point that Dollander agreed with.
“First off, it just goes to the support group that we all have,” Dollander said. “We’re all pulling for each other. At the same time, as a group, even the starters included, we’re just like, ‘We’re going to go after guys.’ Don’t back down. Don’t be scared. Just go after guys. I think that’s benefited us a lot.”
Hunter Goodman hit a solo home run in the fourth to tie the game. It was his third home run of the series after hitting two on Tuesday. Tyler Freeman had an RBI single in the fifth off Christian Roa to put the Rockies ahead.
Colorado picked up its second one-run win of the season to end its seven-game road trip on a good note as the club heads back to Denver.
“We’ve been in all these games,” Schaeffer said. “It was a really big win for us. I thought the offensive performance, even though we only scored three runs, was one of the best of the year for us. The way we were taking balls and firing at pitches in the zone, we need to do that on a consistent basis, but kudos to the guys in there.”