CLEVELAND — The Texas Rangers have left the building, but the losses are still hanging around.

A frustrated Matt LaPorta reacts after striking out against the Twins’ Alex Burnett in the eighth inning Monday at Progressive Field. The Indians lost their fifth straight game. (AP photo.)

A day after the Rangers completed a four-game sweep of the Indians, Cleveland was back on the wrong end of a 6-4 decision Monday night in the series opener against Central Division rival Minnesota.

It was a season-high fifth straight loss for the Indians, who also lost for the seventh straight time at home — the longest losing skid at Progressive Field since 2003. The Twins won for the fifth straight time.

Cleveland, which has dropped 10 of its last 13 games, saw its lead in the division shrink to 1½ games over Detroit.

“We have to pull everything together, and we have to do it soon,” shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera said. “We’re going through a bad time right now. That’s the game. It’s pretty hard.”

The Indians pitched well in their last two games against the Rangers, but were shut out.

Against Minnesota, Cleveland scored enough to win, but was derailed by an uncharacteristically shoddy outing from right-hander Josh Tomlin.

Staked to a 2-0 lead after one inning, Tomlin allowed six runs on nine hits over six innings, losing for the first time in his last nine starts at Progressive Field.

“We just can’t seem to get every part of the game right,” manager Manny Acta said. “We jumped ahead at the beginning, but we just gave up too many.”

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Tomlin squandered the lead in quick fashion, allowing the Twins to tie it at 2 in the second, then forge ahead for good via a three-run fifth.

The Indians botched two plays on bunts from Minnesota in the decisive fifth, Tomlin throwing off the mark to first on one of them. He blamed himself on the other as well after first baseman Matt LaPorta charged a bunt from Drew Butera but didn’t have time to make a play at home or first.

Tomlin felt as though he could have made the play and gotten at least one out at first.

“I messed up both of those (bunts) and it led to a big inning,” Tomlin said. “They hit bad pitches on my end (for the game). They were putting pretty good swings on me.”

Tomlin has been the Indians’ most consistent starter, but he has been roughed up for 12 runs in his last two outings.

“It’s about making adjustments, period, up here,” Acta said. “A couple of times, he just missed pitches. It’s part of it. He’s human.”

Tomlin has noticed hitters making adjustments against him.

“Guys are taking swings early,” he said. “They know I’m going to throw strikes. Sometimes it goes your way. It just didn’t go my way tonight.”

Though it didn’t begin that way, it wound up going Twins starter Scott Baker’s way.

After allowing the two first-inning runs on Asdrubal Cabrera’s 12th home run of the season, Baker settled in to allow just one more earned run on Michael Brantley’s solo shot in the fifth.

He allowed three earned runs on nine hits over seven innings to win for the first time since May 6.

“We let him get into a rhythm, he kept pounding the strike zone and got the best of us,” Acta said. “Giving up six runs doesn’t give you much of a chance when you’re swinging the bat the way we are right now.”

The Indians are clearly in a funk, but Acta isn’t dwelling on the losing ills that confront his club for the first time this season.

“You can name every team in the big leagues and just about every one of them has gone through a losing streak,” Acta said. “All those guys in there got us to where we’re at right now, which is in first place.”
For now.

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

CLEVELAND — The Indians bucked their recent trend Monday, selecting high school shortstop Francisco Lindor with their first-round pick — eighth overall — in the MLB Draft.

Cleveland had taken college pitchers — right-hander Alex White (2009) and left-hander Drew Pomeranz (2010) — with their first-round draft choices the past two years.

“Surprise, high school position player,” said the Indians director of scouting, Brad Grant. “We kind of went against it.”

Lindor, 17, was a first-team All-American during his senior season at Montverde (Fla.) Academy, where he batted .528 with six home runs and 13 RBIs.

“He’s a switch hitter who is very good from both sides of the plate,” Grant said. “He’s got a little bit of power, but more of a batting-average hitter.

“The defensive side is a premium with Francisco. He has the true ability to stay at shortstop, which you don’t see often with a high school player.”

Lindor was born in Puerto Rico before moving to Clermont, Fla. — just north of Orlando — at the age of 13.

The Indians last used their first-round draft pick to select a high school player in 2001, when the club tabbed RHP Dan Denham. The last high school position player Cleveland took in the first round came the year before in infielder Corey Smith.

Neither panned out and there is always an inherent gamble in taking a player out of high school.
“There’s always a risk with high school,” Grant said. “But at the same time, to add a shortstop to our organization was too much to pass up.”

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

CLEVELAND — The injury updates on Indians relief pitcher Vinnie Pestano and third baseman Jack Hannahan are positive.

Pestano, who left Saturday’s loss to the Rangers with lower back tightness, was examined Sunday and will most likely be available for the series opener with Minnesota tonight.

“It’s nothing serious,” manager Manny Acta said of Pestano’s injury, which occurred as he was warming up. The right-hander did not throw a pitch. “It was just some backs spasms, but we still have to see how he feels (today).”

Since surprising many by making the opening-day roster out of spring training, Pestano has been one of Cleveland’s most effective arms out of the bullpen. He is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in 23 appearances, while striking out 27 batters in 21 innings.

Hannahan (left hamstring soreness) missed his third straight game Sunday, but Acta said it was probable he would also return tonight. Hannahan was replaced by utility infielder Adam Everett for the third straight time.

Big league Choo

A mental break day off Saturday night did little for a scuffling Shin-Soo Choo, who was dropped to sixth in the order for the first time this season and went hitless with one strikeout in two official at-bats.

Choo, hitting .239 with five homers and 22 RBIs in 55 games, has just four hits in his last 25 at-bats. He has one home run since April 29 and has gone 11 straight games without driving in a run.

Next up

The Indians host Central Division rival Minnesota for the first time this season in a three-game series that begins tonight at 7:05.

Josh Tomlin (7-2, 3.27 ERA) opens the set, opposing RHP Scott Baker (2-4, 3.86), while Carlos Carrasco (4-3, 5.18) goes for Cleveland on Tuesday (7:05 p.m.) against LHP Francisco Liriano (3-5, 5.73). Liriano is expected to leave the disabled list to start.

Justin Masterson (5-4, 3.28) starts the series finale Wednesday (12:05), Minnesota countering with former Cleveland pitcher, right-hander Carl Pavano (3-5, 4.83).

Minor details

Class A Lake County will be represented by six players — OF Anthony Gallas, C Alex Monslave, INF Argenis Martinez, RHP Clayton Ehlert, RHP Michael Goodnight and LHP Mike Rayl — on the Midwest League mid-season all-star game, June 21, in Davenport, Iowa.

The Cleveland-born Gallas (.342, 6 HR, 21 RBIs), who attended Kent State University, will start for the Eastern Division.

The rest — Monslave (.282, 2 HR, 22 RBIs), defensive-minded Martinez (.205, 0 HR, 18 RBIs), Ehlert (1-2, 2.70 ERA, 10 saves), Goodnight (4-3, 3.27) and Rayl (4-1, 2.05) — were chosen as reserves.

Captains manager Ted Kubiak and his staff will guide the Eastern Division team.

Roundin’ third

Grady Sizemore was not in the lineup Sunday, a prescribed day off for the center fielder. … Indians have committed at least one error in 10 of their last 14 games. … Prior to Sunday, the Indians were one of five teams — Rangers, Braves Marlins and Cards — that had yet to lose four straight games. … Tonight, 7:05, STO/WTAM 1100-AM/WEOL 930-AM.

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

CLEVELAND – Fausto Carmona made only two mistakes in his 61⁄3 innings of work Saturday night. Unfortunately for the right-hander and the Indians, they traveled a combined 885 feet.

Carmona allowed a pair of mammoth two-run home runs to Texas’ Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz, with the two titanic shots powering the Rangers to a 4-0 victory at Progressive Field that secured the four-game series for the visitors.

Other than the two long balls, Carmona pitched well enough to win, but was forced to go it alone, with the Indians’ offense scuffling once again.

“I thought Fausto pitched pretty well,” said manager Manny Acta, whose team lost for the eighth time in 11 games, was shut out for the third time in nine games and saw its lead in the Central Division dwindle to 3½ games. “He made two mistakes the whole time he was out there. He gave us a chance to win.

“We are struggling at the plate right now. We hit a few balls hard but right at people. Our lineup is scuffling right now.”

A night after being overmatched by the fastball of Alexi Ogando, the Indians, who were without injured starters Travis Hafner and Jack Hannahan and played without Shin-Soo Choo (day off), fell prey to an unheralded left-hander, Derek Holland.

Holland, a Newark native who entered the night with a 4-1 record and 4.96 ERA, pitched the second complete game of his career, blanking Cleveland on five hits, while striking out five.

Holland retired 12 straight before allowing a one-out walk to Adam Everett in the sixth, an inning in which the Indians loaded the bases with two outs before Carlos Santana grounded out sharply to third.

Carmona (3-7, 5.33 ERA) allowed Hamilton’s two-run homer in the opening inning, a blast to the second deck in right field that traveled an estimated 445 feet.

He settled in to shut out the vaunted Texas lineup over the next five innings, but another no-doubt homer to Cruz harpooned Carmona in the seventh. Cruz’s two-run shot on an elevated slider with the count 1-2, traveled an estimated 440 feet to left-center.

“I missed two pitches, two home runs,” Carmona said. “I like how I pitched today. I was throwing strikes, keeping the ball down and getting quick innings.”

It was a much better effort from Carmona than his last time out – nine runs on nine hits in four innings of an 11-1 loss to Toronto – but he has been inconsistent during his first season as the full-time ace. Carmona is 0-4 in his last four starts, posting a whopping 8.87 ERA over the span.

“He’s had a few rough ones,” Acta said. “We’re not going to deny that. But for the most part, he has gone deep into the game and given us a chance to win.”

The depleted Indians might be dealing with another injury after reliever Vinnie Pestano left the game before throwing a pitch in the ninth inning, his lower back tightening up after a series of warmup pitches.

“He wanted to pitch through it but we didn’t want to take a chance,” Acta said of one of his most reliable relievers this season. “We’ll see how he shows up (today).”

It was the season-high fifth straight loss at home for the Indians, who also equaled a season high with their third straight defeat overall.

Texas, which has won the first three games of the series, continued its recent mastery of Cleveland. The Rangers have won 15 of their last 18 games against the Indians, including 10 of their last 11 at Progressive Field.

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

TODAY

• WHO: Cleveland vs. Texas
• TIME: 1:05
• WHERE: Progressive Field
• PITCHERS: Talbot (2-1, 4.50 ERA) vs. Wilson (5-3, 3.32)
• TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM