ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The Stingers hit a home run for the seventh straight game, but four runs in the final two innings weren’t enough in an 8-5 loss to St. Cloud on Tuesday night at Joe Faber Field.

Willmar fell in a 6-1 hole after the sixth inning, and scored three times in the eighth and once in the ninth to stage a late comeback for the second-straight night. But St. Cloud answered with a pair of runs between the Stingers’ two rallies, and that was just enough for the Rox (28-12, 4-1) to hold on.

Making his fifth start of the year, Jonny Ortiz went six innings and struck out seven batters, a season-high for the southpaw. St. Cloud had a steady night at the plate, and managed to score a run in each of the first three innings against Ortiz to overcome an early Willmar lead.

The Stingers looked to be in a good spot after scoring the first run of the game in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly by Greg Lambert.

But the three runs by the Rox over the next three innings gave St. Cloud the lead for good. St. Cloud added a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and two more in the eighth against Kiko Garcia.

Despite the deficit, the Stingers again battled back and scored multiple runs in the eighth inning for the second-straight night.

After St. Cloud got the first out in the eighth, the Stingers put three straight on base to load the bags. A fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Justin Toerner scored the first run, and a wild pitch brought home Danny Mayer (Pacific) to make it 6-3. Luke Becker sent a booming double to the center-field wall later in the inning to trim the deficit to just two.

St. Cloud answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but the Stingers kept the rally alive in the ninth. Danny Pardo launched a home run to center field to bring the game back within three with two outs in the ninth. The big fly marked the second time in the last three games that Pardo has gone yard. He now has four this year.

Tonight’s Center for Diagnostic Imaging player of the game was Danny Pardo. 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.

The Stingers return home on Wednesday night to face St. Cloud in the second game of the home-and-home series.

The 2016 Stingers season is presented by Marcus Construction. For more coverage of the Stingers visit the West Central Tribune online at www.wctrib.com.