Cohoon in command, tops Dogs

Mark Cohoon is known for inducing ground-ball outs, but on Wednesday it was all about missing the bats.

Cohoon recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts and allowed two unearned runs on five hits over seven innings Wednesday as the Binghamton Mets defeated the Portland Sea Dogs, 5-2.

The Mets' 2008 12th-round pick retired the first eight batters before Ryan Dent doubled with two outs in the third inning. Che-Hsuan Lin singled and Dent scored on a throwing error by shortstop. Another miscue by third baseman Eric Campbell allowed Lin to score before Cohoon picked off Alex Hassan to end the inning.

The 23-year-old left-hander, whose 0.47 ERA ranks second in the Eastern League, ran into more trouble in the fifth, allowing a two-out double to Chih-Hsien Chiang and a single by Dent that put runners on the corners. But Cohoon retired Lin on a fielder's choice to escape unscathed.

"I had good control tonight," Cohoon said. "I was able to command my fastball in to hitters and keep them honest at the plate. I was able to throw everything else on the other side of the plate.

"I would say last outing I didn't have my curveball; this outing, I did and it helped me a lot. No. 1 was command, I was able to command my pitchers."

Cohoon, whose previous high was 10 strikeouts for Class A Savannah last June 4, is not known as a strikeout pitcher. He fanned 131 batters over 161 1/3 innings across two levels last season.

The Texas native tied a South Atlantic League record last June by pitching three straight shutouts. He was skipped a level and promoted to the Double-A Eastern League immediately after the third shutout and was named the Mets' Minor League Pitcher of the Year after going 12-5 with a 2.57 ERA in 26 starts with the Sand Gnats and B-Mets.

"It was probably the biggest thrill I've had in my career," Cohoon said. "We have a lot of good pitchers in this organization and one guy I thought would receive the award was Dillon Gee. Just to be the one chosen was one of the cooler things that has happened to me."

After getting off to a slow at Double-A, Cohoon came on strong down the stretch, winning four of his last six starts while posting a 1.87 ERA.

"I lost confidence very fast up here when I hit some adversity," he said. "I stepped back and realized that I had shied away from contact because I was scared of them hitting the ball on the barrel. Once I started to pitch to contact again, things started to turn around for me."

Cohoon isn't the only Binghamton pitcher off to a strong start. Brad Holt has not allowed a run in two starts and Robert Carson sports a 0.90 ERA.

"I just think it is contagious; we just try to feed off each other and keep it positive," Cohoon said. "We have a spread chart that we do in the dugout that our pitching coach Marc Valdes does, and it really helps us learn the hitters by keeping track of what pitches they get out on and where they spray the ball at."

Brahiam Maldonado hit his fourth homer, a three-run blast in the first inning, and Carlos Guzman went deep and drove in two runs for Binghamton.