Goodwin major part of Mesa 5-4 comeback win

By Byron Kerr

Nationals

November 05, 2013, 2:59am

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Nationals center field prospect Brian Goodwin crushed a two-run shot in Mesa's 5-4 rain-shortened win over Salt River in Arizona Fall League play on Monday. Goodwin hit the two-run homer in the second to begin the scoring for Mesa, cutting the Rafters' lead to 3-2. His homer came off of Salt River starter Grayson Garvin. Goodwin also stole his third base of the fall season. He finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and is now hitting .317. Left-hander Matt Purke started for Mesa. He went four innings, allowing four hits, three runs, two walks and struck out one. Purke had 61 pitches, 37 for strikes. He faced 18 batters in the no-decision. Down 4-2 in the fifth inning, Mesa rallied for three runs, ignited by a Goodwin RBI groundout that made it 4-3 Salt River. With men on second and third, Jorge Soler delivered a two-run game-changing double to make it 5-4. Mesa (13-8-1) is now 2 1/2 games ahead of Salt River in the East division. Mesa travels to Salt River tonight for a 9:08 p.m. start. Right-hander Tommy Collier (0-0, 0.64 ERA) starts for the Solar Sox.