CLEVELAND — An earthquake shook the upper levels at Progressive Field on Tuesday, but the Indians stood still.

Despite winning the first game of a doubleheader against the Mariners in dramatic fashion, 7-5, the Indians wound up breaking even on the day, dropping the nightcap, 12-7.

“It was a long day just to get a split,” said Cleveland manager Manny Acta, whose club has dropped five of its last six games. “It’s disappointing.”

Cleveland did move a bit in the Central Division standings — the wrong way — falling six games behind the first-place Tigers, who won at Tampa Bay. It is the largest deficit of the season for the Indians, who with a White Sox victory at Los Angeles on Tuesday night, would begin today in third place.

“I’m not counting myself,” Acta said of the deficit. “I’m just trying to win games. Wake me up when we’re mathematically eliminated, if we’re not in first place.”

The Indians were unable to ride the momentum from a fantastic finish in Game 1, which they won on a three-run walk-off home run from Shin-Soo Choo.

They needed the heroics from Choo thanks to another rough outing from closer Chris Perez, who blew the save a night after taking the loss in another shoddy ninth-inning effort.

Choo also saved Justin Masterson from another tough-luck loss. Masterson owned a one-run lead as he took the mound for the ninth inning and a complete-game bid.

He got an out but put two on for Perez, who had little time to warm in the bullpen before allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to cross the plate on a double from Trayvon Robinson — the first batter he faced.

“It’s not the easiest situation, but that’s my job,” Perez said. “I felt fine. If I wasn’t ready, I would have told them I wasn’t ready.”

Masterson wasn’t as good as he has been for much of the year, allowing five runs on on 10 hits, while striking out seven over 8 1/3 innings. But he gave the Indians a chance to win, as he has done nearly every time he has taken the mound this year.

“He hasn’t had a rough spot the whole year,” Acta said. “He’s been so dominant. We feel at the end of the game that he’s earned the right to finish it.”

Conversely, Perez has hit another rough patch as of late.

“He’s getting himself into hitter’s counts,” Acta said.

Ironically enough, Choo’s double in the third inning arrived at the same time as the quake that swayed the press box and could be felt in the upper deck. Little if any of the players on the field were aware that it hit.

For all practical purposes, the nightcap was over much faster.

The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double from Kosuke Fukudome, then watched the Mariners steamroll starting pitcher Zach McAllister, who was called up from Triple-A Columbus to make his second spot start of the season on the big league level.

After working two scoreless innings, McAllister unraveled, allowing five runs apiece in the third and fourth, with Seattle building an insurmountable 10-2 lead after 3 1/2 innings.

“The kid couldn’t pitch ahead,” Acta said. “He couldn’t make quality pitches and his secondary stuff didn’t show up and they hit him around.”

Cleveland showed its mettle, fighting back with five runs before the final inning, but could not overcome the big deficit.

“The guys swung the bat well, but we were in too big of a hole,” Acta said.

Acta said after the game that the team would option McAllister back to Columbus and recall Cord Phelps for his second stint with the Indians.

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