CLEVELAND – Manny Acta didn’t exactly paint a positive picture where injured center fielder Grady Sizemore is concerned.

The Indians manager said Sizemore, who is on the disabled list with a deep bone bruise in his left knee, will visit doctors over the next few days to decide the best course of action for treatment.

Cleveland’s head trainer Lonnie Soloff is expected to provide an update on Sizemore next week, with surgery remaining a possibility.

“He’s still got to see those doctors and see what the best option is,” Acta said.

Sizemore, who was off to a slow start – .211 and no homers in 33 games – has been sidelined since taking himself out of a game in Tampa Bay last Sunday.

The three-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove award winner endured an

injury-plagued season last year, slumping to a career-low .248 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs in 106 games.

Choo for two

Acta moved Shin-Soo Choo up to second in the batting order Friday and the right fielder responded with a 3-for-4 performance that included a pair of home runs. But Acta didn’t take credit for the move, deflecting the praise to Choo.

“It has nothing to do with the spot where he hit,” Acta said. “It has everything to do with his name being Shin-Soo Choo.”

Val-not-so-Buena

Infielder Luis Valbuena continues to struggle offensively with a .148 batting average and just two hits in his last 30 at-bats.

“I don’t think he’s overmatched,” Acta said. “He’s a guy that we still have to get some at-bats and get him to snap out of it. This guy had

30-something extra-base hits (38) last year. We just have to continue to work with him.”

Numbers game

Acta studies statistics but isn’t a manager that lives by them.

“I love stats but I don’t do everything based on stats,” he said. “If you go by splits, you’re going to have a different lineup every single day.

“Stats are like bikinis. They show a lot but they don’t show everything.”

Streak stopper

Mike Redmond’s major league-record errorless streak by a catcher is over.

Redmond was charged with a throwing error on a stolen base from Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce in the fourth inning, halting the streak at 253 games.

Minor details

Canadian-born outfielder Nick Weglarz was promoted to Triple-A Columbus after going 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Double-A Akron’s 9-3 loss to Harrisburg on Friday. Weglarz, a third-round draft pick in 2005, hit .285 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 37 games for the Aeros.

l The Indians signed infielder Josh Phelps to a minor league contract and assigned him to Columbus. Phelps, 32, is back for his second stint in the organization after spending the 2004 season with in Cleveland. He owns a lifetime batting average of .273 in 465 games with Toronto, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, New York (Yankees) and Cleveland.

Roundin’ third

Shelley Duncan and his father Dave are the sixth father/son combination to play for the Indians, joining the Averills (Earl), Bagbys (Jim), Franconas (Tito, Terry), Bells (Buddy, David) and Carreons (Camilo, Mark).

l Ohio State legend Archie Griffin, who was in attendance along with the OSU Alumni Marching Band, threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches. So did Elyria Catholic graduate Brianne McLaughlin and Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights), members of the silver medal-winning USA Women’s Olympic hockey team.

Contact Chris Assenheimer

at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND – Manny Acta didn’t exactly paint a positive picture where injured center fielder Grady Sizemore is concerned.

The Indians manager said Sizemore, who is on the disabled list with a deep bone bruise in his left knee, will visit doctors over the next few days to decide the best course of action for treatment.

Cleveland’s head trainer Lonnie Soloff is expected to provide an update on Sizemore next week, with surgery remaining a possibility.

“He’s still got to see those doctors and see what the best option is,” Acta said.

Sizemore, who was off to a slow start — .211, 0 HR in 33 games — has been sidelined since taking himself out of a game in Tampa Bay last Sunday.

The three-time all star and two-time Gold Glove-award winner endured an injury-plagued season last year, slumping to a career-low .248 batting average with 18 homers and 64 RBIs in 106 games.   

Choo for two

Acta moved Shin-Soo Choo up to second in the batting order Friday and the right fielder responded with a 3-for-4 performance that included a pair of home runs. But Acta didn’t take credit for the move, deflecting the praise to Choo.

“It has nothing to do with the spot where he hit,” Acta said. “It has everything to do with his name being Shin-Soo Choo.”  

Val-not-so-Buena

Infielder Luis Valbuena continues to struggle offensively, entering Saturday with a .148 batting average and just two hits in his last 30 at-bats.

“I don’t think he’s overmatched,” Acta said. “He’s a guy that we still have to get some at-bats and get him to snap out of it. This guy had 30-something extra-base hits (38) last year. We just have to continue to work with him.”

Numbers game

Acta studies statistics but isn’t a manager that lives by them.

“I love stats but I don’t do everything based on stats,” he said. “If you go by splits, you’re going to have a different lineup every single day.

“Stats are like bikinis. They show a lot but they don’t show everything.”

Streak stopper

Mike Redmond’s major league record consecutive errorless streak by a catcher is over.

Redmond was charged with a throwing error on a stolen base from Cincinnati’s Jay Bruce in the fourth inning Saturday, halting the streak at 253 games.  

Minor details

Canadian-born outfielder Nick Weglarz was promoted to Triple-A Columbus after going 2-for-4 with a solo homer in Double-A Akron’s 9-3 loss to Harrisburg on Friday. Weglarz, a third-round draft pick in 2005, hit .285 with seven homers and 27 RBIs in 37 games for the Aeros. … The Indians signed infielder Josh Phelps to a minor-league contract and assigned him to Columbus. Phelps, 32, is back for his second stint in organization after spending the 2004 season with in Cleveland. He owns a lifetime batting average of .273 in 465 games with Toronto, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, New York (Yankees) and Cleveland.       

Roundin’ third

Shelley Duncan and his father Dave are the sixth father/son combination to play for the Indians, joining the Averills (Earl), Bagbys (Jim), Franconas (Tito, Terry), Bells (Buddy, David) and Carreons (Camilo, Mark). … Ohio State legend Archie Griffin, who was in attendance along with the OSU Alumni Marching Band, threw out one of the ceremonial first pitches. So did Elyria Catholic graduate Brianne McLaughlin and Kelli Stack (Brooklyn Heights), members of the USA Women’s Olympic hockey team. … Today, 1:05, STO/WTAM 1100-AM/WEOL 930-AM. David Huff (1-6, 5.36) vs. Homer Bailey (1-2, 5.21).

CLEVELAND – It was an all-around sorry effort from an all-around sorry team Saturday night at Progressive Field.

Getting little pitching, little offense and little defense, the Indians extended their big time losing streak to six games via a 6-4 loss to the Reds in front of a boisterous crowd of 25,531 fans — many of whom were either in attendance to watch contending Cincinnati or the postgame fireworks display.

Cleveland, a season-high 11 games under .500 and a season-high 10 games out of first place in the Central Division, rallied for two runs in the ninth inning, but it was far too little and late.

“We put ourselves in too big of a hole over the first few innings,” said manager Manny Acta, whose team managed just two runs on four hits over the first seven innings. “Fausto (Carmona) had trouble keeping the ball down and those hitters made him pay. We didn’t play very good defense behind him, either.

“The way we’re playing right now, we need to play pretty close to perfect baseball.”

Not even close.

Carmona, a highlight for most of the season was a lowlight on this occasion, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits, in what was his worst performance of the year.

The right-hander allowed two runs in the opening inning, then when it appeared he had worked his way into a groove, surrendered two more in the fourth on a home run to Laynce Nix that put Cincinnati in front 4-0.

“I had a little trouble with location and I was up a little bit today,” said Carmona, whose two-seam fastball had little sink against a talented Reds lineup that has scored 13 runs over the first two games of the Battle of Ohio series. “I think the trouble for me was missing that first pitch for a strike.”

Carmona’s defense didn’t help him any, either, committing three errors, with all of them contributing to runs.

Not surprisingly, Reds starter Johnny Cueto had a much easier time handling Cleveland hitters.

The right-hander shut the Indians out on three hits over the first five innings before allowing his only runs on a two-run home run from Travis Hafner, who went deep for just the fourth time in 36 games.

Cleveland’s uprising in the ninth inning served only to delay the inevitable.

The Indians loaded the bases with Trevor Crowe coming through on a two-run single to left-center, leaving runners on first and third with one out.

Cleveland had the right men at the plate to reverse the outcome in Shin-Soo Choo and Austin Kearns, two of its hottest hitters, but Choo took a called third strike after fouling off a number of 2-2 and 3-2 pitches from Reds closer Francisco Cordero, and Kearns flied out to left on the first pitch he saw to end the game.

Choo thought he had drawn a walk before home plate umpire Angel Campos rung him up.

“It was pretty close but it was a strike. We saw it on video,” Acta said. “That’s what we wanted, our best hitter at the plate. We got it, but Francisco made the pitch and got him.”

Not that anybody thinks the Indians are division title contenders at this point in the season, but since realignment in 1994, the number of teams that overcame a 10-game deficit to win the division is less than 10 percent.

Cincinnati goes for the sweep today, which would improve the Reds’ record against the Indians to 12-3 since 2008. The Reds have won 11 of their last 14 games.

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

The Indians offered up an all-around poor performance Saturday night at Progressive Field, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Reds for their sixth straight loss.

Cleveland got a subpar effort from starting pitcher Fausto Carmona and its offense in addition to committing three errors.

The Indians rallied for two runs in the ninth and had runners on first and third with one out but couldn’t get either runner across the plate.