MANKATO, Minn.—Playing in their fourth consecutive road game Monday night, the Stingers fell short in Mankato against the MoonDogs, losing 10-2.

Will Lydon started his second game of the year on the mound for Willmar (4-3) after getting a no-decision in his first try in the first game of the season last Tuesday at Duluth. This time around Lydon was not as fortunate as he lasted three innings while giving up six runs on five hits. But after yielding five runs in the first two innings, Lydon came back strong in his final inning on the mound in the third and worked a spotless frame.

With Lydon having thrown so many pitches in the first three innings, the Stingers went to the bullpen for the fourth inning and brought on Dakota Belter to try to quiet the bats of the Moondogs (4-3). Belter lasted 2-2/3 innings longer than his first appearance of the season and gave up just one run in each inning of work while scattering five hits and striking out three batters.

In the seventh inning with the Stingers trailing by eight, the bats finally warmed up as they tallied two runs in the inning to avoid being shut out, which has yet to happen this season. Designated hitter Brian Pruett led off with a free pass and moved to second on a steal with Frankie Rios at the plate. Rios followed with his first extra-base hit of the year, a double to right center field that drove Pruett easily in from second. With Dan Motl at the plate, Rios moved to second on a throwing error by the MoonDogs Dalton DeLeon, and after Motl went down swinging, Sean Beesley drove in Rios with a sacrifice fly.

The MoonDogs would score two more in the bottom of the seventh off Joey Hanowski to extend their lead back to where it had been. Then in the bottom of the eighth inning, Sam Hall moved from catcher to pitcher and shut down Mankato to keep the score put at 10-2 for the final score. Will Lydon (0-1) suffered his first loss of the year, while Trevor Lubking (2-0) picked up the win for Mankato.

With the four-game road trip in the books, the Stingers will head back to Willmar for their longest home stand of the season. The seven-game stand begins Tuesday against the MoonDogs with Bark in the Park and will continue all the way through next Monday.

The 2014 season is presented by Charter. For more coverage of the Stingers visit wctrib.com.

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Frankie Rios. CDI is your local medical imaging provider. It’s your choice where you go for medical imaging, for MRI, CT, mammograms and pain injections, choose CDI. Visit online at myCDI.com/CentralMN.