The Bismarck Larks lost a pitcher’s duel against the Mankato Moondogs Friday July 5th by a score of 4-1. The Moondogs All-Star starting pitcher Tyler Lesley continued his strong season by going a complete game for the Moondogs. Starting pitcher for the Larks, Josh Gray threw 6 innings and struck out 4 in his outing.

What’s Next: The Larks will take on the Moondogs one final time in this four-game series in Bismarck on Saturday, July 6th. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05pm.

How It Happened: The Moondogs got on the board first in the third inning after the first two runners reached in the inning. A ground ball double play moved the runner to third before a two-out RBI single broke the scoreless tie.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Moondogs were able to load the bases with nobody out before a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly plated two runs to increase their lead to 3-0.

Adan Fernandez’s solo home run in the fifth inning increased the lead to 4-0 and Tyler Lesley did the rest for the Moondogs. Lesley allowed a run in the 9th inning on a ground ball double play before he capped off his first complete game of the season with a fly out to end the game.

Starting pitcher Josh Gray was impressive in his second start of the season allowing just 4 runs in 6 innings while striking out 4 and allowing 7 hits. Evan Davis threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen for the Larks while just allowing one hit and striking out two for what was his best and longest outing of the season.

The Larks had 6 hits in the game and left 5 runners on base in the game including two from David Mendham, one from Jacob Rogers and another from AJ DiFillipo who all continued their strong performances at the plate.