CLEVELAND — The Indians didn’t need to put it all together, as shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera suggested after their fifth straight loss Monday night.

All they required was for Carlos Carrasco to pitch like a Cy Young contender — a tall order, but one the right-hander filled with earnest Tuesday at Progressive Field.

With Carrasco offering up arguably the best start of his career, Cleveland shook a season-high losing skid with a 1-0 victory over Central Division rival Minnesota — the Indians’ first win over the Twins in nine games dating back to last season.

“Everything was perfect today,” said Carrasco, who pitched a career-high 81⁄3 innings, shutting out the Twins on just three hits, while striking out six. “Everything worked perfect today — fastball, slider, change-up. It was very good.”

With his fastball location the key, Carrasco didn’t allow a baserunner the first four innings.

A Delmon Young double with one out in the fifth ended Carrasco’s bid for perfection, but not his efficiency, as he wiggled out of the stickiest situation he faced all night.

Clinging to a 1-0 lead after the Indians scored in the fourth, Carrasco had Twins on the corners when Young’s double was followed by an infield single from Luke Hughes.

Carrasco didn’t blink, retiring Brian Dinkelman on a foul pop to the catcher and striking out Rene Rivera to end the threat.

“That was impressive,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “The whole day, he was very aggressive. Carlos was tremendous today. He had a very good fastball and kept it at the knees the whole game.”

Carrasco’s dominance was a surprising sight from a pitcher who had allowed three or more runs in six of his 10 starts on the season.

“He can do this a lot,” Acta said. “This guy has the stuff to be a very good pitcher. I have a lot of confidence in him. He has to have confidence in himself and go out and do it.”

Carrasco began the ninth inning bidding for his first complete game, but after allowing a one-out single to Ben Revere, he was removed in favor of closer Chris Perez.

“He was not going to lose this ballgame after he gave us eight-plus innings,” Acta said.

Perez secured the win for Carrasco along with his 15th save in 16 opportunities by getting Alexi Casilla to ground out and Michael Cuddyer to strike out looking for the final out.

Cuddyer argued vehemently with home plate umpire Adrian Johnson on the called third strike, having to be restrained by manager Ron Gardenhire as the Indians flooded the field in celebration.

With the offense still struggling mightily, Carrasco’s dominance was a necessity.

The Indians managed just a run on three hits off starter Francisco Liriano, who was making his first appearance since going on the disabled list May 30 with left shoulder inflammation.

The Indians had early opportunities off Liriano in the first two innings but couldn’t cash in on either one as their futility with runners in scoring position climbed to 1-for-32 after the second inning.

Cleveland put its first two hitters of the game aboard, but Grady Sizemore struck out and Carlos Santana bounced into a double play — the third time he hit into a double play in five at-bats going back to Monday night.

An Orlando Cabrera double and a walk to Jack Hannahan left two on and two out in the second, but Lou Marson flied to right to end the inning.

Cleveland, which mustered just four hits on the night, finally scored in the fourth after Santana led off with a double and moved to third on an error by Young, then scored on a Shelley Duncan groundout.

“We keep swinging the bats,” Orlando Cabrera said. “Things are going to turn around for us offensively.”

For now, the Indians are just thankful they turned things around in the win-loss department.

“You want to cut it off as soon as possible,” Acta said of the losing skid. “You don’t want to get into six, seven, eight games, cause it builds up. So, a sigh of relief, yes, for all of us.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter.