BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Mark Cohoon pitched well in each of his first two starts, but the Binghamton Mets’ bullpen let his potential wins get away.

Cohoon stepped up to a new level of dominance Wednesday night and got just enough help from two relievers to pick up his first win in a 5-3 victory against the Portland Sea Dogs.

Cohoon, a promising 23-year-old left-hander, allowed two unearned runs on five hits, striking out 11.

He retired the first eight, including six straight on strikeouts.

“I thought their starter did a great job,” Sea Dogs Manager Kevin Boles said. “He established that he could control the inner half of the plate with his fastball, then got us to chase some two-strike pitches out of the zone.”

After giving up one earned run in 12 innings over two starts, Cohoon was still looking for his first decision.

Now he’s 1-0 with a 0.47 earned-run average, and a 20-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 19 innings.

“He’s been outstanding every outing,” Binghamton Manager Wally Backman said. “Even when he didn’t have his best stuff, he pitched very well.

“What we’re looking for is consistency and he’s giving us that.”

A 12th-round draft pick out of North Central Texas College in 2008, Cohoon has been a league all-star each of his first two full minor league seasons.

He was 7-1 with a 1.30 ERA and three shutouts in 13 starts for Savannah of the South Atlantic League last season. Cohoon is 25-10 for his career with a 2.64 ERA.

“I saw his numbers and was very impressed, especially with what he did last year in Savannah,” Boles said. “He’s got a bright future ahead of him.

“He has a very clean delivery.”

Alex Wilson, the Sea Dogs’ starter, came in off different results.

Wilson was seeking his third win in three starts, but gave up four runs in the first inning and was out of the game without getting an out in the fourth.

The Sea Dogs came back and had the winning run at the plate in the ninth inning, similar to the first game of the series Monday night.

“Our guys will never quit,” Boles said. “We want to make sure we keep a quality approach.

“We had that one rough inning in the first inning.”

Josh Satin’s three-run homer in the third helped Binghamton to a 5-0 lead through four innings of a 6-5 Mets win Monday in the only other game of the rain-shortened series.

Brahiam Maldonado’s three-run homer to center allowed the Mets to take a 4-0 lead after one inning Wednesday.

The Sea Dogs, who are alone in last place of the Eastern Division at 4-7, got their first hit on Ryan Dent’s two-out double in the third. Dent scored one of the team’s two unearned runs in the inning.

Will Middlebrooks struck out in his first three at-bats before delivering a two-out RBI single in the ninth and became the tying run on base.

Erik Turgeon induced Oscar Tejada into a groundout for his first save.

 

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