diff --git a/tools/patman/gitutil.py b/tools/patman/gitutil.py
index ca3ba4a..77907c1 100644
--- a/tools/patman/gitutil.py
+++ b/tools/patman/gitutil.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
     """
     pipe = [['git', 'log', '--no-color', '--oneline', '@{upstream}..'],
             ['wc', '-l']]
-    stdout = command.RunPipe(pipe, capture=True, oneline=True)
+    stdout = command.RunPipe(pipe, capture=True, oneline=True).stdout
     patch_count = int(stdout)
     return patch_count