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Published On: July 4th, 2014

MANKATO, Minn.—Despite one of the better pitching performances this season, the Stingers offense couldn’t find its stroke in a 3-1 loss to the MoonDogs Thursday night at Franklin Rodgers Park in Mankato.

For the second straight night against Mankato (23-15, 2-0 second half), Willmar scored first in the game, this time  in the third inning. Brian Pruett lined a hard single back up the middle to start the frame and then moved to second when Sean Beesley laid down a sacrifice bunt. Reagan Fowler followed Beesley by flying out to center field, which moved Pruett to third base, and the next batter Nick Rivera drove Pruett in with an opposite field single to right field.

The third inning run was the only one Willmar (22-10, 0-2 second half) would get in the entire game in what turned out to be a pitcher’s duel, the first one in over two weeks since a 2-0 loss to Rochester June 17.

Kurt Yinger was the one on the mound for the Stingers and threw all eight innings, giving up just five hits and walking only one batter. Three of the five hits against Yinger came in the innings where Mankato tallied its runs. The three MoonDogs’ tallies came in three separate innings, the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.

Mankato had two hits in the fourth inning when it came back to tie the score at one, with Brinn Bell’s single driving in Tanner Rockwell. A leadoff double in the sixth inning was the only hit the MoonDogs got, and the runner Brett Synek scored off a sacrifice fly by Levi Scott. The insurance run in the bottom of the eighth was just enough to ensure the win for the host MoonDogs.

Despite giving up fewer hits, Yinger suffered his first loss of the season while striking out three. Cord Cockrell earned his third win of the season for Mankato.

Willmar heads to Thunder Bay for a two-game series with the Border Cats over the Independence Weekend.

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

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Kurt Yinger. 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.