Article By:

WICHITA, Kansas -- Patrick Mincey gave up just one run over eight innings in his 20th start of the year, and the Cleburne Railroaders held on for a 2-1 win in the series opener against the Wichita Wingnuts at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium on Tuesday night.

Mincey’s lone run came on a first-pitch homer from Brennen Salgado to halve the deficit in the eighth inning, and he picked up his team-high ninth win of the year. He walked just one batter and struck out six after carrying a 9.69 ERA in three starts against the Wingnuts into the game.

The Wingnuts had runners on the corners with nobody out after Winston Abreu issued back-to-back four-pitch walks to begin the ninth and Brent Clevlen advance to third on a wild pitch, but Abreu induced three fly ball outs to earn his league-leading 23rd save.

Geraldo Valentin hit a two-out RBI single to score Mitch Glasser and open the scoring in the sixth, and after Nick Van Stratten’s two-out double in the eighth, Pichi Balet padded the lead with his 20th RBI of the year.

Valentin finished 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, and Balet went 2-for-4. Axel Johnson added two more hits, and Van Stratten went 2-for-4 with the double and the run scored.

Clevlen went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, but the rest of the Wingnuts finished a combined 2-for-28 with six strikeouts.

Wichita starter Tim Brown went 7.2 innings and gave up just two runs, while Josh Goossen-Brown went four up, four down out of the Wingnut bullpen.

Game 2 of the three-game set is scheduled for Tuesday. First pitch time is 7:05 p.m. and can be heard on the Railroader Radio Network with pregame coverage starting 20 minutes prior.