The Indians snapped a five-game losing skid with a 1-0 victory over the Twins on Tuesday night at Progressive Field.

Carlos Carrasco got the win, working a career-high 8 1/3 innings and shutting Minnesota out on three hits.

The Indians scored their lone run in the fourth on a ground out from Shelley Duncan to drive in Carlos Santana, who led off the inning with a double.

CLEVELAND — According to manager Manny Acta, designated hitter Travis Hafner (strained right oblique) will take batting practice over the next couple days, with a minor-league rehab assignment to follow.

Hafner, who has been sidelined since May 18, told The Associated Press that he could return for the Indians’ next homestand, which begins June 17 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Prior to the injury, Hafner was one of the most productive hitters on the team. He batted .345 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 32 games before straining the oblique during batting practice.

Cleveland’s offense has struggled in Hafner’s absence. Since May 18, the Indians have averaged 3.4 runs, while batting .227 as a team. Their record over the span is 7-12.

“You can’t use it as an excuse,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “Every team is going through injuries. But we know we don’t have that bat in there. We knew coming off last year that we had to have every single one of these guys healthy and contributing. We have to survive and weather the storm.”

Splintered stick

Second baseman Orlando Cabrera has played better defense as of late, but the veteran is struggling at the plate, entering Tuesday batting .148 (9-for-61) over his last 18 games and 2-for-18 over his last five games, to drop his season average to .245.

“He has struggled against right-handed pitching, mostly,” Acta said. “His numbers in the past have been much better.”

Cabrera, who entered Tuesday two hits shy of 2,000 for his career, was hitting just .228 (33-for-145) against right-handers. He entered the year with a career .270 average against righties.

Draft days

The MLB Draft continued Tuesday with rounds 2-30 completed.

The Indians, who took high school shortstop Francisco Lindor with their first-round selection (eighth overall) Monday, tabbed right-handed pitchers in three of the next four rounds.

In the second round (67th overall), Cleveland selected Dillon Howard, a right-hander out of Searcy H.S. (Ark.), followed by RHP Jake Sisco (third round), Merced College (Calif.); catcher Jake Lowery (fourth round), James Madison University; and RHP Will Roberts (fifth round), University of Virginia.

The Indians are high on the Puerto Rican-born Lindor, 17, who was taken out of Montverde Academy (Fla.). He moved to the Orlando, Fla. area to start his high school career.

“From what I hear, the kid has the chance to be the best position player coming out of the draft,” Acta said. “It’s risk-reward with a young kid like that. But behind (Asdrubal) Cabrera, we need some depth at shortstop.”

The draft wraps up today with rounds 31-50.

Minor details

Triple-A Columbus’ Luis Valbuena entered Tuesday on a 16-game hitting streak. Valbuena, who has played in 194 games for the Indians over the past two seasons, was hitting .302 with four homers and 30 RBIs in 49 games. … Double-A Akron’s Tim Fedroff was named Eastern League player of the month, leading the EL with a .412 batting average, 42 hits and an OPS of .465 in May. Fedroff, a seventh-round draft pick in 2008, entered Tuesday hitting .362 with two homers and 30 RBIs in 52 games. … High-A Kinston LHP Giovanni Soto was named Indians minor league player of the week after tossing six shutout innings, while allowing just two hits and striking out 10 in a 1-0 victory last Tuesday. Soto (4-4, 3.02 ERA, 11 starts), acquired from the Tigers in a trade for Jhonny Peralta last year, ranked seventh in the Carolina League with 58 strikeouts in 56 2/3 innings through Monday.

Roundin’ third

Michael Brantley entered Tuesday batting .341 (14-for-41) over his last 10 games. He had five homers in 56 games through Monday after entering the season with just three in 100 career games. … Today, 12:05, Masterson (5-4, 3.28) vs. Pavano (3-5, 4.83).

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

Atkinson

The Cleveland school board made a surprising move Tuesday morning by not naming any of the three outside finalists for the jobs of superintendent/chief executive office and instead appointing from within its ranks.

The board unanimously voted to make its chief academic officer, Eric Gordon, its new chief executive officer.

Gordon was chose over three finalists that included Lorain Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson.

An 11 a.m. press conference is scheduled to offer more details on the announcement.

CLEVELAND — Despite manager Manny Acta’s claim to the contrary, a handful of Indians players confirmed Monday that there was a players-only meeting held prior to the series opener with Minnesota.

Relief pitcher Chad Durbin said veteran second baseman Orlando Cabrera called the meeting with the Indians in the midst of their roughest stretch of the season, riding a season-long four-game losing streak and losers of nine of their last 12 games coming in.

“It was just talking, no (butt)-chewing, no messages here or there, just go out and play,” said veteran outfielder Austin Kearns.

Acta was informed of the meeting when he met with the media prior to the game, and was supportive of his players taking the initiative. But afterward, Acta told reporters that the meeting never took place.

The Indians media relations department confirmed that players did meet in between advance meetings for pitchers and position players.

It was unknown why Acta disputed the notion. He said he had no plans to meet with his scuffling team, which entered the night with a tenuous 2 1⁄2-game lead in the Central Division standings after leading by seven games on May 21.

“I haven’t felt that we as a coaching staff needed to address anything just yet,” he said. “Losing isn’t a reason to hold a meeting. It’s the way you’re losing, and I haven’t felt the need to address that.”

Acta said it was too early to start worrying over his club’s recent slide.

“We’ve got four months of baseball to play,” Acta said. “Get over here and try to win today, that’s been our approach. We’ve got way too many baseball games to play before we start looking ahead.

“Do you think I’m sitting here thinking that I have four months to protect a 21⁄2-game lead? That’s too much stress. I would have to have open-heart surgery. I just want my kids to continue to have fun and play the game right.”

When approached by reporters prior to the game, Cabrera played dumb and said he got players together to thank them for baby shower gifts.

Third time

Grady Sizemore was the latest to replace a struggling Shin-Soo Choo at the No. 3 spot in the batting order. Asdrubal Cabrera hit third in place of Choo on Sunday.

Since starting slowly off the disabled list, Sizemore has begun to pick up steam, entering Monday 7-for-19 with five RBIs over his last five games.

“He’s been swinging the bat better since Toronto (May 30-June 1),” Acta said of Sizemore. “We knew it was going to take some at-bats to get him going off the DL.”

Choo, who has slumped for the majority of the season, hit fifth Monday after hitting sixth the night before. Sizemore batted third for the first time since 2009.

Nick’s knack

Rehabbing first baseman Nick Johnson (wrist surgery) took batting practice and groundballs at Progressive Field prior to Monday’s game.

The Indians wanted to get a personal look at Johnson, who will continue to rehab in minor league home games at Triple-A Columbus and Double-A Akron.

“I’m not going to speculate on that,” said Acta, when asked when Johnson would be ready and about his role with the Indians. “He’s got a lot of at-bats in the minor leagues before we make a decision.”

Minor detail

• Left fielder Jerad Head was the only player with a multihit game for Columbus on Sunday, going 2-for-4 with his seventh homer and four RBIs in an 11-5 loss to Louisville. Head, acquired as a non-drafted free agent in 2005, entered Monday batting .309 with 26 RBIs in 46 games.

Roundin’ third

• Third baseman Jack Hannahan returned to the lineup after missing three games with a sore left hamstring. Acta said he anticipated reliever Vinnie Pestano being available Monday after the right-hander left Saturday’s game with lower back stiffness before throwing a pitch.
• Catcher Carlos Santana entered Monday hitting safely in eight of his last 10 games, while batting .355 (11-for-31) with four doubles and three RBIs over the span.
• Keystone’s state runner-up softball team was in attendance as guests of the Indians.

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