CLEVELAND — Though the Indians have been pushing shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to represent them in the All-Star Game (July 12 in Arizona), manager Manny Acta thinks there is another worthy player on the roster.

“Can you pitch any better in the closer role?” Acta said of right-hander Chris Perez, who entered Wednesday with a 2-3 record and 2.63 ERA in 30 games, while converting 17 of his 18 save opportunities. “He’s been fantastic. I know a lot of our guys don’t have names, but if you look at his numbers, he can help the American League club.”

Perez took the loss Tuesday night, allowing his first home run since June 27 of last year — a span of 62 games and 60 1/3 innings without surrendering a long ball — but has been the picture of consistency since assuming the closer role on a fulltime basis last season.

Boston’s Matt Albers (69 1/3) and San Diego’s Heath Bell (66 1/3) are the only two pitchers in the majors that worked more innings without allowing a homer over the span.

Through Tuesday, Perez’s 17 saves ranked third in the American League behind Seattle’s Brandon League (20) and New York’s Mariano Rivera (18).

Big League Choo

Season-long slumper Shin-Soo Choo entered Wednesday batting .375 (9-for-24) with five RBIs over his last seven games.

Acta thinks it is a sign that Choo is beginning to break out of his extended funk.

“He’s coming,” Acta said. “He’s had some good at-bats over the last week or so and he’s pulling the ball with authority. He looks more relaxed to me.”

Acta believes Choo has put his DUI arrest behind him, something that the right fielder admitted was taxing him mentally.

“It doesn’t go away overnight. It takes time,” Acta said. “I think he’s had good support from his teammates, and I think it’s going away.”

Marson’s moment

According to Acta, Lou Marson will be behind the plate on a regular basis during the Indians’ upcoming interleague road swing, while Carlos Santana plays first base.

The Indians won’t miss anything defensively, but Marson is still struggling to find his way offensively, batting .235 with seven RBIs in 26 games.

“This is a good opportunity to play Lou more,” Acta said. “This is a guy we see as an every day catcher. We don’t see Lou as just a backup.

“At the end of the day, we all know that Lou has to develop as a hitter to be an every day catcher in the American League.”

Next up

The Indians begin a stretch of nine consecutive interleague games on the road with a three-game series against defending world champion San Francisco that begins Friday at 10:15 p.m.

Carlos Carrasco (7-3, 3.87 ERA) opens the set, opposing LHP Jonathan Sanchez (4-5, 3.71), while Justin Masterson (5-5, 3.18) goes for Cleveland on Saturday (4:11 p.m.) against RHP Matt Cain (6-4, 3.44).

Fausto Carmona (4-9, 6.17) starts the series finale Sunday (8:09 p.m.), while the Giants counter with LHP Madison Baumgarner (3-8, 3.21).

Minor details

Triple-A Columbus third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall was activated from the disabled list after a bout with concussion symptoms. Cleveland’s top prospect was in the lineup Wednesday, entering the day batting .250 with five homers and 30 RBIs in 60 games. … Clippers RHP Zach McAllister became the second pitcher in the International League to record his eighth win Tuesday, allowing one earned run on two hits, while striking out six over seven innings of a 4-3 victory over Toledo. McAllister (8-2, 2.82 ERA), acquired from the Yankees for Austin Kearns last year, has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of his 13 starts.

Roundin’ third

Travis Hafner had reached base safely in 21 straight games through Tuesday, hitting safely in eight straight and driving in at least a run in six of his last seven games. … Reliever Joe Smith entered Wednesday without allowing an earned run over his last 16 appearances (16 innings).

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

WASHINGTON — The financially troubled Postal Service is suspending its employer contribution to the Federal Employee Retirement System.

The agency said Wednesday it is acting to conserve cash as it continues to lose money. It was $8 billion in the red last year because of the combined effects of the recession and the switch of much mail business to the Internet. It faces the possibility of running short of money by the end of this fiscal year in September.

“This move underscores the need for Congress to make bold, quick and substantive reforms to the Postal Service. The USPS is hanging by a thread, along with 8 million private sector jobs that depend on the mail,” said Art Sackler, coordinator for the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, a group representing the private sector mailing industry.

The post office said it has informed the Office of Personnel Management that the $115 million FERS payment made every two weeks will be suspended effective Friday. The action is expected to free about $800 million in the current fiscal year. The post office’s FERS account currently has a surplus of $6.9 billion, the agency said.

“We will continue to transmit to OPM employees’ contributions to FERS and also will continue to transmit employer automatic and matching contributions and employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan,” said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer for the post office.

Over the last four years the Postal Service has cut its staff by 110,000 and reduced costs by $12 billion. The agency has also proposed eliminating delivery on Saturdays to save money and is working on closing small post offices and consolidating sorting and other operations.

The post office, unlike other federal agencies, is also required to make an annual payment of more than $5 billion as an advance contribution to future retiree medical costs.

ELYRIA — The Lorain County commissioners will hold three public meetings next month to discuss whether or not to ask voters to approve a sales tax hike in November.

The meetings will be held at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on July 13 and 10 a.m. on July 20.

The increase of the county’s 6.25 percent sales tax — the second lowest in the state — could come in a variety of forms, the commissioners said.
The increase could be for .25 percent or .5 percent and would be set aside solely to support the county’s general fund, similar to what the commissioners imposed two years ago that was ultimately rejected by voters.

Commissioner Tom Williams suggested increasing the sales tax by 0.5 percent while at the same time decreasing what property owners pay in property taxes. The reduction would come from what is known as inside millage, which is a property tax that voters have no say in.

Any sales tax increase would be temporary, according to the options the commissioners are considering. The original options were for five years, but Williams suggested another option of three years.

The county has struggled with dwindling revenue in recent years and the commissioners have made steep cuts, that included layoffs, to deal with their budget woes. Commissioner Ted Kalo said about half of the county’s estimated $52 million budget can’t be cut at the present time, either because of court orders, state law or the commissioners’ own commitment to avoid cuts to safety forces.

County Budget Director Lisa Hobart estimated the county’s budget deficit will be $6.2 million next year without an increase in revenue.

See Thursday’s Chronicle for more on this story.

CLEVELAND – The Indians won a fight at Progressive Field on Tuesday night, but lost the battle.

Cleveland’s scuffling offense, which has been a weak link for an extended time, rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning, only to watch the strength of the club – the bullpen – sink the celebration in a 4-3 loss to Colorado.

Down 3-1 in the eighth, the Indians scored twice on RBI singles from Travis Hafner and Travis Buck, but closer Chris Perez served up a game-winning home run to the first batter he faced in the ninth – Seth Smith – as Cleveland suffered its second straight loss.

Perez, who wasn’t in a save situation, allowed the first earned run by the Indians’ bullpen in 282⁄3 innings (nine games).

It was also the first homer he’s surrendered since June 27 of last year – a string of 62 games covering 601⁄3 innings.

“Every time I go in there, my mentality is to put up a zero,” said Perez, who allowed Smith’s second homer of the game on a 2-2 pitch. “Every time I go out there, the game’s on the line.

“I just didn’t come through. I made some good pitches to Smith. I just hung a slider. It happens.”

The Indians went hitless over the first five innings against Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin, who despite walking four over the span, including three straight in the third, kept Cleveland scoreless.

A pair of walks from the effectively wild right-hander in the sixth led to the Indians’ first run on their first hit – a two-out single from Shin-Soo Choo.

Chacin, who allowed just a run on two hits over 62⁄3 innings, struck out seven and walked six, throwing nearly as many balls as strikes – 55 out of 115 pitches – but the Indians couldn’t get to him.

“He had a few walks but we couldn’t get the big hit,” manager Manny Acta said. “But we liked what the guys did to fight back. We put up a fight, but we couldn’t get the big hit.”

With Chacin in the dugout, they finally did.

Cord Phelps, Asdrubal Cabrera and Hafner started the eighth with three straight base hits off former Cleveland reliever Rafael Betancourt, Hafner’s driving in a run to close the gap to 3-2.

Adam Everett pinch ran for Hafner in a move that came back to bite the Indians after Buck tied it on a two-out single off right-hander Matt Belisle.

With the Indians rallying again in the ninth off Colorado closer Houston Street, Hafner’s spot in the order came up with runners on second and third and two outs.

Acta chose to pinch hit Austin Kearns for Everett – leaving Orlando Cabrera on the bench – with Kearns, who had a .209 batting average prior to the at-bat, striking out to end the game.

When told by reporters that he might be second-guessed for lifting Hafner, Acta responding by saying, “I don’t care what anybody says. I’m trying to win ballgames.”

Indians starter Mitch Talbot pitched well enough to do that, but was hurt by the lack of offensive support over the duration of his

61⁄3-inning outing in which he allowed three runs on eight hits.

The right-hander matched Chacin’s scoreless string through four innings before surrendering his first run on Jonathan Herrera’s two-out single in the fifth.

Smith’s first homer – a two-run shot – came off Talbot with two outs in the sixth.

“I thought that Mitch did a very good job,” Acta said. “He threw a lot of strikes and gave us a chance to win. He pitched well.”

For one of the few times this season, an Indians starter admitted the team’s offensive woes weighed on him.

“It comes through your mind a little bit, like, ‘When are we going to score?”‘ said Talbot, who is 0-3 with a 5.32 ERA over his last four starts in which the Tribe has scored just five runs and been shut out twice. “It does cross your mind, but when you’re out there, the focus is on pitching.”

Cleveland, which entered the night with a one-game lead atop the Central Division standings, dropped its fifth straight game to Colorado dating back to 2008.

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

TONIGHT

• WHO: Cleveland vs. Colorado
• TIME: 7:05
• WHERE: Progressive Field
• PITCHERS: Tomlin (8-4, 3.93 ERA) vs. Hammel (3-6, 3.65)
• TV/RADIO: SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM