Rochester Red Wings' bats go cold in loss to Gwinnett

From an offensive standpoint, the day was bleak for the Red Wings. They collected just six hits (five singles and a double), struck out eight times and squandered quality scoring chances in the sixth and seventh innings.
In the four games against the Braves, the Wings as a team batted .198. They batted just .167 with runners in scoring position.
Put Rene Tosoni, Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere back in the lineup and maybe the Wings are more dangerous at the plate. As it is, the parent Minnesota Twins still need them.
"We have to hang in there," Wings manager Tom Nieto said. "When the big-league club starts to get a little more healthy, that's going to help our lineup."
The big hits were lacking on Sunday, when the Wings wore special pink Mother's Day jerseys as part of a breast cancer awareness campaign.
Trailing 5-1 in the sixth, the Wings loaded the bases with walks to Steve Singleton, Jeff Bailey and Dustin Martin. But the slumping bats of Chase Lambin and Matt Brown stayed cold.
Lambin struck out — beginning the at-bat with a mighty swing at a pitch that dived low and away — and Brown popped to short.
Lambin, who represented the Syracuse Chiefs in the Triple-A All-Star Game last summer, is in an 0-for-10 hit drought and went 5-for-39 against the Braves. He is batting .211. Brown is in an 0-for-19 slump and batting .215.
"When you have the amount of guys struggling like we do, it's hard not to notice," Nieto said.
In the seventh, with runners on first and third and one out, Ray Chang struck out and Singleton fouled to third.
"When you have an opportunity to get runs by putting the ball in play, you have to put the ball in play," Nieto said, referring to the strikeouts by Lambin and Chang.
At least Nieto's daily report to the Twins will include a positive review of his bullpen. Four relievers combined to pitch 51/3 scoreless innings, including a strong outing by Jeff Manship.
Manship went 7-10 as a starter the past two seasons, but the plan this season is for him to be used exclusively in long relief. The Twins have decided to use him in that role when he is called up.
He retired six straight and faced seven batters during his two innings after starter Jeff Diamond allowed eight hits and five runs in 32/3 innings.