Guardians Farm Report: Williams Strikes Out 10 Over Five Scoreless In Captains Win

Three of the four Cleveland Guardians minor league affiliates were in action Saturday with Lynchburg postponed due to rain for the second straight day.

Triple-A Columbus Clippers

Omaha 10 Columbus 9

Columbus had a commanding 9-to-4 lead over Omaha heading into the bottom of the 9th inning and looked to be well on their way to victory. Reliever Brett Daniels go the first out of the inning but then the wheels would fall off as he allowed two straight walks followed by three straight singles as Omaha would cut the Clippers lead to 10-to-6.

Still just one out and the bases loaded Columbus made a pitching change to closer Nick Mikolajchak. Omaha's designated hitter Jimmy Govern would send everybody home on the third pitch by Mikolajchak hitting a walk-off grand slam to cap a six-run inning and a 10-9 comeback win for the Storm Chasers. Columbus now losers of a third straight game fall to 18-11 on the season.

My goodness! #Guardians 26yr old (1B) prospect David Fry with a 444 foot 2-run blast today for Columbus. Fry has now homered in two straight games and has 6 HR's overall on the season.@CLBClippers #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/1bZKchLJ7O
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 8, 2022

On offense the Clippers would get home runs of the bat of first baseman David Fry and outfielder Will Benson who both hit mammoth home runs in the sixth inning. Fry's two run home run would sail 444 feet while Benson's solo home run would fly 432 feet out of the stadium. For Fry it was his sixth long ball of the year and for Benson his third.

Columbus starter Adam Scott pitched well getting a no-decision going six strong innings allowing three runs, two earned while striking out five on the night.

Top Performers:

Will Benson 1-2 3R HR 2RBI 3BB
David Fry 2-5 2R HR 2RBI
Jose Fermin 1-2 R RBI 3BB
Yu Chang 1-3 RBI (Rehab)
Adam Scott 6.0(IP) 6H 3R 2ER 2BB 5SO

Double-A Akron RubberDucks

Akron 10 Richmond 3

RubberDucks starter Hunter Gaddis was outstanding shutting down the Flying Squirrels over five innings striking out a season high nine batters and allowing just two hits. It was Gaddis third straight terrific outing in a row for Akron has he has a miniscule 0.60 ERA over his last 15.0 innings pitched striking out 23 batters during that time period.

#Guardians 24yr old RHP prospect Hunter Gaddis struck out a season high 9 over 5.0 scoreless innings for Akron tonight. Gaddis has been outstanding over his last 3 starts.

Line - 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 9SO

Last 3 - 15.0(IP) 12H 2R 1ER 2BB 23SO 0.60 ERA@hgaddis22 #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/Sa1V27iRQv
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 8, 2022

On offense Bo Naylor would reach base five times on two hits and three walks in the game. Naylor drove in one run on a RBI double in the third inning and scored three times in the game. Outfielder Julian Escobedo had two hits including a double and would drive in a team high three runs in the game.

Akron is back to .500 at 13-13 on the year after their second straight win over Richmond.

Top Performers:

Bo Naylor 2-2 3R 2B RBI 3BB SB
Will Brennan 1-3 3R RBI 2BB
Julian Escobedo 2-5 3RBI
Jose Tena 2-6 R 2B
Marcos Gonzalez 1-4 2R RBI
Hunter Gaddis 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 9SO (W)

High-A Lake County Captains

Lake County 2 Dayton 0 (Game 1)

Game one of a double header for Lake County saw 22-year-old right-handed pitcher Gavin Williams dominate a Dayton Dragons offense over five innings. Williams would reach double digit strikeouts for a second time in five starts this season fanning 10 batters on the day while giving up just two hits earning his second win of the season.

#Guardians 22yr old RHP prospect Gavin Williams was absolutely nasty today striking out 10 over 5.0 scoreless innings for Lake County vs Dayton!

Line - 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO

Season - 24.2(IP) 8H 4R 4ER 9BB 39SO 1.46 ERA@16gavinwilliams @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/8Zwk5jRkSW
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 7, 2022

Captains Mason Hickman would relieve Williams and would earn his first save of the season throwing two scoreless innings striking out five Dragons batters.

On offense third baseman Gabriel Rodriguez would reach base three times with two doubles and a walk while driving in one run. Rodriguez is now hitting .360 on the season with seven doubles.

Top Performers:

Gavin Williams 5.0(IP) 2H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO (W)
Mason Hickman 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 5SO (SV)
Gabriel Rodriguez 2-2 2(2B) RBI BB
Ray Delgado 1-2 RBI
Angel Martinez 1-3 R 3B
Johnathan Rodriguez 1-3 R 2B

Lake County 4 Dayton 3 (Game 2)

Game two saw Captains Doug Nikhazy strikeout five batters over four scoreless innings to start the game. Nikhazy who has struggled with control on the season did walk four batters in the game but was able to wind in and out of trouble.

#Guardians 22yr old LHP prospect Doug Nikhazy struck out 5 tonight over 4.0 scoreless innings for Lake County vs Dayton. Nikhazy now has 25 strikeouts over 15.0 innings on the season.

Line - 4.0(IP) 3H 0R 0ER 4BB 5SO (83 Pitches 45 Strikes)@Dougnikhazy @LCCaptains #ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/1OmiRI0Cg5
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) May 8, 2022

Lake County already up 1-to-0 over Dayton would get a big three run home run off the bat of catcher Micael Ramirez his second on the season giving the Captains it a 4-to-0 lead at the time.

The home run would prove to be vital for the Captains as Dayton would score once in the fifth inning and two more in the seventh but fall short in their comeback effort. Lake County would hold on to a 4-to-3 win sweeping the double header and improving to 12-13 on the season.