Corsaletti, Goodson paces PawSox to victory

Matt Goodson exorcised a couple of demons Monday night as the Portland Sea Dogs beat the Connecticut Defenders, 5-3, at Dodd Stadium.

First, Goodson snapped a two-game skid during which he was 0-1 with an inflated 12.96 ERA.

Secondly, he buried a road record where he was 1-3 with an 8.02 ERA.

Goodson (4-4), who’s on a short leash after undergoing surgery last year to repair a torn ulnar nerve, blanked Connecticut on two hits (one was of the infield variety) over five innings. He walked two, struck out four and threw 50 of 81 pitches for strikes.

“Every time out he’s got around 80 pitches to work with and he realizes that whether it‘s one inning or six or seven,” explained manager Arnie Beyeler. “He was very efficient tonight and worked to contact very well.

“He utilized his changeup very well which made his fastball looked pretty good later in the game. He’s got the slider he can go to when he needs it. Overall, it was a very impressive outing.”

Goodson’s “impressive outing” was underscored by the number of weak hacks by the Defenders, who seldom hit even loud foul balls.

“My changeup worked really well tonight,” said Goodson. “It was the first time in a while that it’s been there. I was changing speeds a lot and throwing (the changeup) for strikes in fastball counts.

“Mechanically, it hasn’t been there lately. I’m trying to get on a consistent basis with my mechanics. Staying behind the ball with my changeup is key for me and I was able to do that tonight.”

Perfecting a changeup is key not only for Goodson but also for the other young pitchers in Boston’s farm system.

“These guys have seen with Justin (Masterson) and ‘Buck’ (Clay Buchholz) going to the big leagues the last couple of years how effective that changeup’s got to be when they get there, because they’re going to get those matchups with the left-handers,” said Beyeler. “Most of the time you’ve got to throw the changeup because it makes the fastball that much better.
“The guys are starting to buy into it.”

Connecticut starter Joey Martinez (4-6) stepped on the mound leading the Eastern League with a 1.73 ERA. But, first, the Sea Dogs knocked him around the park and then they literally knocked him out of the game.
Portland led 2-0 in the second inning when Mickey Hall singled with one out and Iggy Suarez beat out an infield hit. Both Sea Dogs advanced on a passed ball and Hall scored on Bubba Bell’s sacrifice fly.

After Ryan Khoury’s single made it 4-0, Jeff Corsaletti lined a shot off Martinez’s right arm which prompted manager Bievenido Figueroa to remove him in favor of Brooks McNiven.

Martinez suffered a bruised bicep and was taken out for precautionary reasons.

Portland wasted zero time getting to Martinez in the first as Bell drew a leadoff walk, Khoury singled and Corsaletti crushed a two-run double off the center field fence.

Connecticut nicked Daniel Haigwood for a run in the sixth and Chad Rhoades for two in the eighth. But Khoury singled home a seventh-inning run and Beau Vaughan retired the last four Defenders (three on strikeouts) for his seventh save.