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Guardians Farm Report: Nikhazy's Strong Start Helps Lead Captains to Fifth Straight Win

Here is a recap of what happened with the Guardians minor league teams last night
Todd Paquette|
Guardians Farm Report: Nikhazy's Strong Start Helps Lead Captains to Fifth Straight Win
Guardians Farm Report: Nikhazy's Strong Start Helps Lead Captains to Fifth Straight Win

In this story:

Cleveland Guardians

Busy day on the farm Saturday as all four teams were in action including a double header by Triple-A Columbus.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Buffalo 4 Columbus 2 (Game 1)

Columbus would fall behind early in the first game of Saturday's double header vs Buffalo trailing 4-to-0 in the fifth inning.

The Clippers would finally break through scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI groundout by Will Benson and a throwing error by the Bisons second baseman.

Unfortunately for Columbus they would be held scoreless the rest of the game and fall by a final score of 4-to-2.

With the loss the Clippers would fall to 27-19 on the season.

Top Performers:

  • Tyler Freeman 1-4 RBI
  • Mitchell Tolman 1-3 R
  • Jose Fermin 1-3 R
  • Brayan Lavastida 2-3 SB
  • Ian Gibaut 1.2(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 1SO
  • Yohan Ramirez 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO

Columbus 4 Buffalo 3 (Game 2)

With Columbus leading 1-to-0 in the fifth inning they would get solo home runs from both Gavin Collins his third on the year and Tyler Freeman his second.

Buffalo would put a three spot on the board in the in the top of the sixth inning finally getting to Clippers starter Tanner Tully knocking him out if the game.

Tied at 3-to-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning and Columbus with runners on 2nd and third with two outs Bobby Bradley would come up big with a base hit scoring Will Benson giving the Clippers a 4-to-3 walk-off win.

Clippers improve to 28-19 on the season with the win.

Top Performers:

  • Tyler Freeman 1-3 R HR RBI
  • Gavin Collins 1-3 R HR RBI
  • David Fry 1-2 RBI BB
  • Will Brennan 1-3 R BB
  • Bobby Bradley 1-4 RBI
  • Tanner Tully 5.2(IP) 7H 3R 3ER 2BB 4SO
  • Alex Young 1.1(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 2SO (W)

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 9 New Hampshire 7

The RubberDucks would strike first scoring three runs in the fourth inning first on a RBI double by Chris Roller then a two-run double by Ike Freeman.

After scoring once in the fifth inning the Fisher Cats would tie the game up off Akron starter Xzavion Curry at three runs apiece in the sixth.

The Ducks would respond in a big way in the bottom half of the sixth scoring six times including a Julian Escobedo two-run home run his third of the season.

The Fisher Cats would make a comeback attempt and cut the lead to 9-to-7 in the ninth inning before Akron would stop the bleeding and end the game.

With the win the RubberDucks move back to 10 games above .500 at 27-17 on the year.

Top Performers:

  • Julian Escobedo 1-3 2R HR 2RBI
  • Ike Freeman 1-2 R 2B 2RBI 2BB
  • Brayan Rocchio 2-5 2B 2RBI
  • Jose Tena 2-5 2R SB
  • Chris Roller 1-3 R 2B RBI BB
  • Jonathan Engelmann 2-4 R 2B
  • Bo Naylor 1-3 R 2BB SB
  • Xzavion Curry 6.2(IP) 5H 4R 3ER 1BB 5SO (W)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 4 Peoria 1

Captains starter Doug Nikhazy allowed just one hit over four and two thirds scoreless innings helping Lake County earn their fifth straight win.

The Captains would score first on an RBI double by Christian Cairo followed by a RBI base hit by Raynel Delgado to take an early 2-to-0 lead in the fourth inning.

Peoria would only get two hits in the game off Captains pitching with one coming in the sixth inning on a solo home run by Todd Lott cutting the score to 2-to-1 at the time.

Lake County would get an insurance run in the seventh inning on a base hit by Jhonkensy Noel scoring Connor Kokx. The Captains would add one more run in the ninth inning and hold onto win by a final of 4-to-1.

The Captains are now 23-20 on the season.

Top Performers:

  • Christian Cairo 1-4 R 2B RBI 
  • Connor Kokx 1-2 R 2B 2BB
  • Alexfri Planez 2-5 R
  • Ray Delgado 1-4 RBI
  • Jhonkensy Noel 1-5 RBI
  • Doug Nikhazy 4.2(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 4BB 4SO
  • Randy Labaut 2.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 1BB 1SO (SV)

Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats

Lynchburg 3 Columbia 2 (11 Innings)

The Hillcats and Fireflies ended regulation tied at two runs apiece sending the game into extra innings. Both teams would fail to score in the 10th inning while Lynchburg would hold Columbia scoreless in the top of the 11th. 

With Dayan Frias starting the bottom of the 11th on second base the first batter up in the inning Victor Planchart would hit a line drive into right field scoring Frias and giving Lynchburg a 3-to-2 walk-off win!

Lynchburg starter Rodney Boone went seven innings in the game allowing just two runs while striking out seven batters in a no-decison. Boone's 2.11 ERA is now second in the Carolina League while his 57 strikeouts lead the league.

Top Performers:

  • Victor Planchart 2-4 RBI BB
  • Jose Burgos 2-4 BB SB
  • Luis Durango 1-4 R SB
  • Rodney Boone 7.0(IP) 7H 2R 2ER 0BB 7SO
  • Hugo Villalobos 3.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 6SO
  • Tyler Thornton 1.0(IP) 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 3SO

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Todd Paquette
TODD PAQUETTE

Todd Paquette is a Cleveland-area sportswriter and minor league insider who covers the Cleveland Guardians and their farm system. He has been writing professionally since 2014 and has worked for Cleveland Guardians On SI since 2021.

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