Gavin Williams is a grinder. No word better describes the Guardians’ towering 6-foot-6 right-hander, who on May 9 improved to 3-2 despite control problems that drove his pitch count up to 98 through five innings. But he got through those five frames without allowing a run despite giving up four hits and four walks. He also struck out eight in the 6-0 win over the Phillies.

Williams’ night ended with a strikeout of Bryce Harper and Bo Naylor throwing out Trea Turner trying to steal second on the same pitch. A solo home run by Kyle Manzardo in the bottom of the fourth provided the Guardians with the only run they needed. Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez also homered for the Guardians.

Williams has now walked 23 batters in 37 innings. In each of his previous two starts, one against the Twins April 28 and one against the Blue Jays May 3, Williams gave up a first-pitch home run. He has given up six home runs in 2025.

“I thought tonight was a huge improvement from last time out,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “Still a little bit of the command, still a little bit of the efficiency missing, but I thought the mix (of pitches) was really good. For him to get us five innings tonight after getting the pitch count up early was huge.”

Williams said he worked between starts on keeping his pitches down in the strike zone. The Guardians’ first-round pick of the 2021 draft is averaging exactly one strikeout per inning.

“I’m still diving into my delivery a little bit,” Williams said. “I’m trying to go fastball down and cutters and sliders off that. I’ve been throwing fastballs up in the zone way too much.

“I still have a long ways to go. I’m not perfect right now, but it’s going to get there.”

A right elbow injury delayed Williams’ 2024 debut until July 3. He finished 3-10 across 16 starts and 76 innings pitched. He pitched 82 innings in 2023. It is too soon to think about arm fatigue, but if he makes another 23 starts and averages five innings a start he will end up pitching about 150 innings this season.

Hippo Vaughn was a Cubs legend

Each week during the baseball season, this portion of Cleveland Beat will look back on a player from the 19th or early 20th century better known for his nickname than his actual name.

James Leslie Vaughn played baseball in an era when political correctness did not exist. Otherwise, the 6-foot-4, 215-pound pitcher might never have been tagged with the unflattering nickname “Hippo” Vaughn.

Vaughn, born in 1888 in Weatherford, Texas, pitched from 1908-21. He compiled a record of 178-137 with a 2.49 ERA. The left-hander’s best years were the nine seasons he spent with the Chicago Cubs. He was 151-105 from 1913-21. Vaughn is regarded as the best left-hander in Cubs history.

“Big Jim Vaughn used to pitch the particular kind of ball a batter liked best just to show him that he couldn’t hit it,” Vaughn’s Cubs teammate, Pete Alexander, said in a story in The Sporting News in 1921. “Nothing pleased him better than to strike a man out pitching to his strength.”

The end of his Major League career came quickly for Vaughn., Alexander’s boast notwithstanding. He was 3-11 in 1921 after winning 22, 21 and 19 games the previous three seasons.

Hippo’s final start was a 6-5 loss to the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds on July 9, 2021. Cubs manager Johnny Evers pulled Vaughn from the game. Vaughn left the team and never wore a Cubs uniform again. The team formally suspended him. The Chicago Tribune reported the news by writing Vaughn “is under indefinite suspension for failure to keep in fighting trim.”

Vaughn passed away in Chicago in 1966.