CLEVELAND — Despite his slow progress, the Indians are not giving up on Trevor Crowe, the club’s first-round draft pick (14th overall) in 2005.

It was Crowe, not Michael Brantley, whom Cleveland chose as a replacement for injured center fielder Grady Sizemore. And it is Crowe that manager Manny Acta has liked since watching him during his first spring training with the Indians this year.

“I like his energy, the fact that he’s a switch hitter and has speed,” Acta said. “It’s not out there in the game anymore. It’s all power hitters now. I like those kinds of guys.”

Crowe, who is in the final year of his contract with the Indians, is off to a positive start, pulling into Monday with a .324 batting average, one home run, seven RBIs and five runs in nine games since his promotion from Triple-A Columbus. He’s getting the chance to prove he belongs in the majors on a full-time basis. “This is a perfect opportunity for him,” Acta said. “Is he going to be labeled as a fourth out­fielder, or an everyday player here or somewhere else? He’s got the tools to do it, but he’s going to have to prove it and stay con­sistent with his performance.

“I’ve always felt that as an everyday or fourth outfielder he’s a valuable piece here.”

With vast experience in player development as a long­time minor-league manager, Acta has seen the progression or lack of same by plenty of first-round draft choices such as Crowe, whom Cleveland chose in front of Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury in 2005.

“Every organization has one or two guys they had high hopes for,” Acta said. “Some guys it takes them forever, but obviously, they get the benefit of the doubt over the kid in the 30th or 40th round. Those guys that do get drafted (in the first round), you can see a lot of rea­sons people picked them there. “Sometimes some guys take two, three or four years, some guys take seven or eight years. As long as you have those tools, you’re going to get looked at.”

That’s part of the reason the Indians are still looking at Crowe.

All-Star update

The first balloting results for the American League All-Star team were announced and, not surprisingly, outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is the only Cleveland player among the leading vote-getters — and just barely.

Choo is 14th among 15 AL outfielders with 127,042 votes.

He entered Monday batting .308 with six homers and 24 RBIs, while ranking third in the AL with a .421 on-base percentage.

Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer is the league’s leading vote-getter with 644,533 votes.

Omar in familiar spot

Omar Vizquel was back in familiar territory Monday, making his second start of the season for the White Sox at shortstop — a spot he occupied at Jacobs/Progressive Field from 1994-2004.

Though he entered Monday batting just .175 (7-for-40), Vizquel had a pair of singles to move past Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio for second place on the all-time hits list by a shortstop, with 2,675.

Minor details

• Double-A Akron left-hander Scott Barnes was named Eastern League pitcher of the week after a sparkling start against Altoona that earned him his first win of the season. Barnes, acquired in a trade with the Giants last year for Ryan Garko, tossed five no-hit innings, striking out five and walking four.
• Catcher Chun Chen went 3-for-4 in Class A Lake County’s 6-3 loss to South Bend on Sunday. The 21-year-old native of Taiwan entered Monday batting .419 (26-for-62) with eight doubles, three triples, two homers and 12 RBIs for the month (17 games).

Roundin’ third

• Travis Hafner, who is batting .353 (24-for-68) with two homers and 10 RBIs over his last 19 games, got the night off. He was replaced at designated hitter by Matt LaPorta.
• Reliever Chris Perez had not allowed an earned run in his last 14 appearances (12 1/ 3 innings) through Sunday.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

Fresh off ending a season-high six-game losing streak, the Indians returned to the defeat department, dropping a 7-2 decision to the White Sox on Monday at Progressive Field.

Justin Masterson lost for the 11th straight time dating back to last season, allowing five runs on nine hits in just four innings.

CLEVELAND — Though it didn’t look like it at the time, Indians manager Manny Acta made the right decision when he handed Tony Sipp a job in the bullpen during spring training. Sipp strug­gled during the exhibition season, but he’s been as good as it gets since then.

Sipp

“He didn’t have a very good spring train­ing,” Acta said. “I had to see the Tony Sipp that pitched here last year, and that’s what he’s been.”

Sipp, who sports an ERA of 1.40 on the season, has not allowed an earned run in his last 15 appearances, and just one over his last 19 games (18 strikeouts in 18 innings). The left-hander worked a scoreless 1 2/ 3 innings Sunday in a 4-3 victory over the Reds.

“I’m glad that Manny stuck with me in spring training because I didn’t really do any­thing to win a job,” said Sipp, who went 2-0 with a 2.93 ERA in 46 games for Cleveland last year. “It was just going off what I did last year.

“I knew I had the ability to pitch up here. I was happy I didn’t have to go down to Triple-A and work my way back, because I knew once things started clicking for me, I would be back to what I was doing last year.”

Sipp, 26, entered Saturday limiting opposing hitters to a .153 batting average, which ranked third among American League relievers. He hasn’t allowed any of his 12 inherited runners to score.

“He’s fearless, right or left, and just goes after guys,” Acta said. “He’s got a great demeanor and doesn’t seem to get rattled. He’s in a pretty good groove right now.”

Duncan’s debut

Shelley Duncan made the most of his first start since being promoted from Triple-A Columbus, reaching base in three of his four plate appearances and driving in a run with a single in the first inning.

“He had good at-bats all day,” Acta said of Duncan, who walked twice. “We wanted to get Shelley out there because he’s not going to get much playing time and we want to keep him sharp.”

Next up

The Indians wrap up the homestand with a three-game series against the White Sox that begins tonight at 7:05.

Justin Masterson (0-4, 5.65 ERA) opens the set, opposing LHP John Danks (3-3, 2.26), while Mitch Talbot goes Tuesday (7:05 p.m.) against RHP Jake Peavy (3-3, 5.74). Jake Westbrook (2-2, 4.56) starts for Cleveland in the series finale Wednesday (12:05 p.m.), while the Sox counter with LHP Mark Buehrle (3-5, 4.55).

The Indians are 10-12 against the Central Division but 5-1 against the White Sox.

Minor details

• The combined record of Cleveland’s minor league affiliates (96-76) was the third-best in the majors through Saturday, with Triple-A Columbus (27-17) and Class A Lake County (30-13) atop their leagues.
• The Clippers activated outfielder Jordan Brown from the disabled list. It’s been an injury-plagued season for Brown, who had a shot to make Cleveland’s opening-day roster but suffered a torn right meniscus shortly into spring training.
• RHP Alex White, the Indians’ first-round draft pick (15th overall) last year, made his debut for Double-A Akron on Sunday, allowing two runs on five hits (two homers) over seven innings of a 5-2 victory over Harrisburg.

Roundin’ third

• The all-time series between the Indians and Reds is even at 33, with Cincinnati winning 11 of 15 since 2008.
• Travis Hafner extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI infield single in the first inning. He is batting .366 (15-for-41) with nine RBIs over the span.
• Hitters are batting a whopping .423 off beleaguered reliever Rafael Perez, who has allowed 10 runs on 22 hits and nine walks over 12 innings (15 games).
• The 10 home runs allowed by David Huff are tied for the most in the American League.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — For one of the few times this season, everything fell into place for the Indians.

Cleveland got a positive out­ing from starting pitcher David Huff on Sunday, some timely hit­ting and flawless defense, and even mixed in a quality effort from its bullpen, including beleaguered closer Kerry Wood.

It all added up to a 4-3 victory over the Reds that ended the Indians’ season-high six-game skid, while preventing Cincin­nati from recording its first-ever sweep at Jacobs/Progressive Field.

It all starts with starting pitch­ing, and Huff didn’t exactly get off to a good one, allowing a two-run home run to Scott Rolen four batters into the game.

But Huff used Rolen’s long ball to propel him onto better things, allowing just one more run — another homer to Rolen — over the remainder of his six­inning effort to snap a personal five-game losing streak.

“It kind of fired me up a little bit and I started making pitches,” said Huff, who won for the first time since a complete­game victory over the Rangers in his second start of the season on April 15. “I had a game plan going in and I just stuck with it.” Huff (2-6, 5.25 ERA) has pitched better over his last two starts after some prodding from Acta to be more aggres­sive with his fastball.

More photos below.

“David pitched better with his fastball today,” Acta said. “He had good pop on his fastball and used it effectively. If he can command that fastball and be aggressive with it, he has the stuff to pitch effectively up here. “We need him to continue to pitch that way.”

The Indians wasted little time emerging from the early deficit, scoring twice to tie it in the bottom of the first off Homer Bailey. Bailey, who left the game in the third inning with tightness in his right shoulder, allowed the first three batters to reach base. Travis Hafner drove in the first run with an infield single.

Shelley Duncan, who made his first start since being promoted from Triple-A Columbus, tied it with a two-out base hit up the middle.

The Indians forged ahead 3-2 in the third on a sacrifice fly from Russell Branyan, before the Reds tied it again on Rolen’s second homer in the top of the sixth.

That’s when the Indians got opportunistic again.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Jhonny Peralta lined a single into left-center field that scored Trevor Crowe with what wound up being the winning run.

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“Jhonny was huge, getting that game-winning hit,” Acta said of the third baseman, who has struggled for much of the season.

A trio of relievers — Chris Perez, Tony Sipp and Wood — kept the one-run lead intact.

Perez retired the first two batters he faced in the seventh before hitting Orlando Cabrera with a pitch and walking Brandon Phillips.

Sipp picked up Perez by retiring the dangerous Joey Votto on a fly to left to end the seventh, then faced the minimum in the eighth, striking out Jonny Gomes and getting a double-play ball from Jay Bruce. Rolen walked to start the inning.

That left it up to Wood, who had struggled since leaving the disabled list and failed miserably in his first save opportunity Wednesday. Things were different for the veteran righthander this time.

Wood retired the first batter and allowed a single to Ryan Hanigan before striking out pinch hitter Laynce Nix and getting the final out on a Cabrera liner to right fielder Shin-Soo Choo that ended the game. “It was good to see Woody do that because that puts our bullpen in a really good situation when those three guys are throwing well,” Acta said.

The victory ensured that the Indians will not go winless on the homestand. It began with four straight losses, including a two-game sweep by the Royals.

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.