WASHINGTON — Saddled with a slowdown in hiring, President Barack Obama is drawing attention to the auto industry’s rebound, visiting a Chrysler plant in politically important Ohio as he seeks to highlight a rare bright spot in the sluggish economic recovery.

Obama was traveling to Toledo today, making the latest in a string of domestic trips to promote his economic agenda and defend the much maligned government bailouts to Chrysler and General Motors. The president planned to speak to plant workers and local business owners about the significance of the industry’s turnaround.

The trip comes on the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a significant drop in hiring for May — only 54,000 new jobs — and an uptick in unemployment to 9.1 percent. As the Republican presidential field begins to take shape, the White House is keenly aware that Obama’s handling of the economy generates some of his highest public disapproval ratings.

“We have said from the beginning that the road out of the dark place we were in when this president took office in terms of the economic recession, the depths of the recession we were in, was not going to be smooth every step of the way,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

The auto industry is also a major employer in presidential battleground states like Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, all of them important for Obama’s re-election prospects. The industry recovery also gives Obama the opportunity to distinguish himself from Republicans who had criticized the government’s intervention.

Among them was Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who had called for Chrysler and GM to go through bankruptcy without government assistance. Romney today defended his position. “The right process for an enterprise in trouble is not to be given money by the taxpayers in a bailout,” he told CBS’s “The Early Show.”

CLEVELAND – Home is where the wins have been for the Indians this season.

Thursday night at Progressive Field, it was where poor starting pitching, a lack of offense and shoddy defense resided.

With right-hander Carlos Carrasco running out of steam and his fielders letting him down in a decisive sixth inning, Cleveland limped to a 7-4 loss in the opener of a four-game series with American League West Division-leading Texas.

The Indians led 3-0 through four innings before the Rangers tied it in the fifth, then forged ahead for good with another three-run inning in the sixth.

“We didn’t swing the bats particularly well, and unfortunately, the two things that we have done well, we didn’t do well tonight,” said manager Manny Acta. “We didn’t pitch very well and we didn’t play very good defense.”

Things began well for Carrasco, who didn’t allow a run on just a hit and a walk over the first four innings as he worked with an early cushion,

But Texas caught up to the right-hander in the fifth, sending eight batters to the plate as Carrasco began to unravel.

“He just didn’t make pitches,” Acta said. “He couldn’t keep the ball down. He didn’t have anything to finish hitters off.”

Carrasco said he lost his effectiveness when he went to his change-up in the fifth and sixth in order to show Rangers hitters something different than his sinking fastball.

“In the first four innings, I didn’t throw my change-up,” he said. “Then, in the fifth and sixth innings, I was throwing it but it was a little up.”

The subpar fifth was a prelude to an even worse sixth for Carrasco and the Indians.

With Texas’ Nelson Cruz on second after a one-out double, Mitch Moreland singled to right and was caught between first and second when first baseman Matt LaPorta took the cutoff throw from Shin-Soo Choo.

LaPorta ran at Moreland and had him heading back to first before turning to check on Cruz at third base. That allowed Moreland to make it safely on a tardy flip to Orlando Cabrera covering at first.

“Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Nelson Cruz going home,” LaPorta said. “I turned and then I turned back, and by that time, he was already back at first base. You learn from it and you just have to give (the ball) up right away, because they have eyes to see what’s going on.”

A sacrifice fly from Yorvit Torrealba scored the go-ahead run, followed by an RBI triple from Endy Chavez, but the Indians weren’t done with the fielding gaffes.

With Ian Kinsler at the plate, Carrasco uncorked a wild pitch that catcher Carlos Santana chased down. But he hurried a throw to his pitcher despite Chavez not breaking for the plate.

The ball wound up in the infield grass by the pitcher’s mound as Chavez raced home for a 6-3 lead.

“The defense didn’t help us right there, but there were runners on base because we didn’t make pitches,” Acta said, laying some of the blame on Carrasco, whom he singled out for not directing Santana on the wild pitch. “You can’t play stellar defense for 162 games. It’s going to happen. You just have to live with it.”

The Indians scored three of their four runs in the second inning off Texas starter Dave Bush, who lasted just four innings, surrendering the three runs on four hits.

Cleveland put the first four batters aboard in the second, with RBI singles from Travis Buck and Orlando Cabrera and a groundout from Jack Hannahan scoring the runs.

A LaPorta solo shot in the seventh scored the Indians’ final run.

“We had an opportunity to win that game tonight,” LaPorta said. “There were some things that happened and we didn’t come through.”

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

CLEVELAND — Carlos Santana returned to the cleanup spot Thursday night, and Indians manager Manny Acta had his defense prepared for critics of the move.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Santana leads the team in on-base percentage,” Acta said of Cleveland’s catcher, who entered Thursday hitting just .224 but with a .362 on-base percentage, fueled by 38 walks (third in the American League). “That means he is making the least outs of anyone. That means a lot to me. I’m not a big batting average guy.”

Santana, embroiled in a slump that has covered the majority of the season, has been hot as of late, entering Thursday 7-for-17 with three doubles and three RBIs in his last six games. Since adjusting his approach at the plate by eliminating a toe tap prior to his swing, Santana went 4-for-7 with two doubles, two RBIs and four walks through his first at-bat Thursday.

“He’s swinging the bat better,” Acta said. “There’s not such a big difference between fourth and fifth.”

With Travis Hafner on the disabled list, the Indians are without a prototypical cleanup hitter, and the designated hitter was hitting fifth anyway before sustaining a right oblique injury.

According to Acta, Hafner’s absence is the main reason Grady Sizemore’s return to the leadoff spot will be delayed, with Michael Brantley continuing to bat atop Cleveland’s lineup. Sizemore hit fifth in the series opener with Texas on Thursday.

“We need a little more thump in the middle of our order,” Acta said.

Pronk’s prognosis

Acta said Hafner would pick up a bat today for the first time since the injury, taking dry swings prior to the game.

There is no set timetable for the return of Hafner, who was expected to miss four to six weeks after being placed on the disabled list May 20.

“We have to go day-to-day with that because you never know when you’re going to have a setback,” Acta said.

Hafner, who is hitting .345 with five home runs and 22 RBIs in 32 games, has missed time twice this season with injuries but has avoided any issues with his problematic right shoulder.

Minor details

Triple-A Columbus infielder Cord Phelps entered Thursday batting .338 (23-for-68) over his last 16 games with six doubles, two homers and 18 RBIs. Phelps, one of Cleveland’s top prospects, was batting .309 with seven homers and 38 RBIs in 49 games.

** Double-A Akron infielder Matt McBride was named Indians minor league player of the week for May 22-28, batting .370 (10-for-27) with two homers and seven RBIs in seven games. McBride, a sandwich draft pick between the second and third rounds in 2006, entered Thursday hitting .263 with a team-leading eight homers and 26 RBIs in 54 games.

** LHP Drew Pomeranz (1-1, 1.85 ERA in nine starts) pitched well but didn’t get a decision Wednesday, allowing just three hits and striking out four over five innings of High-A Kinston’s 2-0 loss to Wilmington.

Roundin’ third

The Indians entered Thursday with a 24-13 record against right-handed pitchers, which was the best mark in the majors. Cleveland was hitting a big league-best .303 with runners in scoring position through Wednesday.

** ESPN has selected three future Indians games to televise nationally — June 13 at New York Yankees, Aug. 1 at Boston and Sept. 21 vs. Chicago White Sox.

** Cavaliers guard Baron Davis was in attendance as part of a community outreach program.

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