CLEVELAND, Ohio — The one good thing about Doug Nikhazy making his first big league start Saturday night for the Guardians is that his next one, whenever that may be, has to be better.
Boston ruined Nikhazy’s debut with a 7-3 victory in the second game of a day-night doubleheader to earn a split after the Guardians won the first game, 5-4. Nikhazy lasted only three innings, but he seemed to be in the game much longer.
There was a reason for that.
Nikhazy needed 90 pitches to get through three innings. He allowed six runs on five hits and six walks. The Red Sox came within a home run of hitting for the cycle against him, while Jarren Duran added a straight steal of home for Boston’s final run against the left-hander.
“Things didn’t go the way Doug wanted them to go, but we saw a lot of good things in there,” said manager Stephen Vogt. “In talking to him right now, the reflections he had, he’s a competitor. He’s going to pitch in this league for a long time.”
The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the first on Trevor Story’s single after Nikhazy walked Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman with one out.
They made it 4-0 with three runs in the second. Kristian Campbell, after reaching on a leadoff double, scored on Duran’s two-out single. After Duran took second on a wild pitch, he scored on Devers’ double to center.
Nikhazy (0-1, 18.00) followed that with three straight walks to force home Devers for a 4-0 lead.
The Red Sox, 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position in the first game, added two more runs in the third. Nikhazy walked Carlos Narvaez with one out and then allowed a two-out triple to Duran to center. With Devers at the plate, Duran stole home with a headfirst slide.
The Guardians challenged the safe call at the plate, but replay supported plate umpire Brook Ballou’s call on the field. Duran beat the tag of catcher Bo Naylor after Naylor took Nikhazy’s throw from the mound.
“This is certainly fuel,” said Nikhazy, when asked what he learned from his first big league start. “It’s not the first time I’ve been knocked down in my career.
“What I learned is that what goes on between the ears and what happens inside is what I project throughout my performance … and it starts with me.
“My head was probably a little more focused on external factors than the task at hand.”
As for Duran’s steal of home, Nikhazy said, “I took a peek at him because he’d gotten a big jump off the line. I brought my hands up getting ready to throw and he took off.
“I think I could have still stepped off (the rubber). I don’t know if I quite started my delivery. I made the choice to start my pitch instead of stepping off. What I should have done there is just step off.”
The Guardians tried to hit their way back into the game.
They made it 6-3 in the fourth as Angel Martinez singled home Gabriel Arias and Jhonkensy Noel homered into the left field bleachers. It was his first regular-season homer since Aug. 30.
The Guardians, however, couldn’t do enough damage against right-hander Walker Buehler (4-1, 4.28), who was facing the Guards for the first time in his career.
Buehler, who spent his first seven years in the big leagues with the Dodgers, signed with the Red Sox during the offseason. He left Saturday’s start after six innings in which he allowed three runs on seven hits.
Lefty Kolby Allard, whose contract was selected by the Guardians before Saturday’s doubleheader from Triple-A Columbus, started the fourth and saved the bullpen from a long night.
Allard, who was starting in Columbus’ rotation with Nikhazy, held the Red Sox to one run over the final six innings in his Cleveland debut.
“That was super impressive,” said Vogt. “What was that, 64 pitches? He was attacking the zone, living ahead, getting weak contract.
“To take the ball in the fourth and finish the game, that was very impressive. That’s what we saw in spring training.”
The veteran left-hander, who has pitched for Texas, Atlanta and Philadelphia in the big leagues, impressed the Guardians in spring training after they brought him to camp on a minor league deal.
Nikhazy was added to the 26-man roster on Saturday as the 27th man. He will be optioned to Columbus after the game.
Boston added its final run in the sixth when Duran scored on an infield single by Bregman. Arias, coming over from second base, caught the ball behind second base. With his back toward Rocchio, he flipped him the ball. It seemed to catch Rocchio by surprise as he dropped the ball.
Arias left the game in the seventh inning with what Vogt called “irritation in the left hip.”
The Guardians victory in the first game gave them their first win in a doubleheader since Aug. 18, 2023, when they beat the Tigers in second game.
“Anytime you split it’s a good day because it’s really hard to beat a team twice in the same day,” said Vogt. “So we go into Sunday’s game with a chance to win the series. That’s all you can ask for.”
Next
LHP Logan Allen (1-1, 2.11) vs. RHP Brayan Bello (1-0, 1.80) Sunday at 1:40 p.m. CLEGuardians.TV, WTAM, WMMS, WARF and the Guardians radio network will carry the game.
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