C.J. Kayfus and Kahlil Watson just keep raking in Columbus and Akron wins

Cleveland Guardians minor league recap for Friday, May 2, 2025

Columbus Clippers 5, St. Paul Saints 2 (F/7)

Box Score · Clippers improve to 14-14

Will Dion gave up two runs in the first inning, then settled down the rest of the way to earn his first win of the season. His final line was two runs allowed on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks in 5.0 innings pitched.

Lucas Frias tossed 2.0 scoreless frames to close out the seven-inning game to earn the save.

Offensively, Will Brennan was terrific, going 3-for-4 with a run scored. C.J. Kayfus also stayed hot after his Triple-A promotion, going 2-for-3 with a double.

Petey Halpin walked twice while Kody Huff went 1-for-2 with a sacrifice and two RBIs and Johnathan Rodriguez went 1-for-2 with a walk.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Altoona Curve 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 16-8

Don’t look now but Kahlil Watson is absolutely raking in his repeat season at Double-A. He went 3-for-4 on Thursday with two doubles, raising his season OPS to .979. The former 2021 first round draft pick just turned 22 years old two weeks ago.

Starting pitcher Rorik Maltrud was terrific, allowing just one run on three hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 6.0 stellar innings of work.

No one else had a multi-hit game, but Joe Lampe doubled and knocked in a pair of runs. Justin Boyd went 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch to reach base safely twice.

Jake Miller picked up his first save of the season with a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning that included a strikeout.

Lake County Captains 0, Lansing Lugnuts 5 (F/5)

Box Score · Captains fall to 13-11

Lake County fell behind early and didn’t get much time to fight back in a rain-shortened game Thursday.

The Captains managed just one baserunner the entire 4 ¹⁄₂ innings, a single from Jonah Advincula.

Starting pitcher Cam Favors was knocked around for five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks in just 2.0 innings. Steven Perez was excellent in relief, striking out three in 2.0 scoreless frames.

Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Charleston RiverDogs 2

Box Score · Hillcats improve to 15-9

Hillcats leadoff hitter Tommy Hawke did more Tommy Hawke things on Thursday, going 1-for-3 with a walk and a whopping four stolen bases.

Welbyn Francisca joined Hawke as a terror on the basepaths, walking twice with a pair of steals and two runs scored.

Ryan Cesarini went 3-for-4 with a triple and three runs batted in while Jeffrey Mercedes went 2-for-4.

Starting pitcher Jervis Alfaro continued his run of strong starts, allowing one run (zero earned) on four hits with four strikeouts and one walk in 5.0 innings. He has a 1.17 ERA through five games pitched spanning 23.0 innings thus far this season.

Conner Whittaker also was terrific in long relief, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit.