ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Jayson Nix kept hitting like an All-Star. Fausto Carmona showed why he actually is one.

Nix, recently claimed by the Indians off waivers, homered for the sixth time in his last seven games and Carmona held the Rays lineup at bay as Cleveland beat Tampa Bay 9-3.

“Stuff like this happens sometimes,” Nix said. “It’s a funny game. It’s just one of those things I can’t really explain.”

Cleveland went ahead 3-1 on Nix’s solo shot off James Shields (7-9) in the fifth. Jhonny Peralta’s three-run drive off Andy Sonnanstine and an RBI double by Jason Donald made it 8-2 in the eighth.

Carmona (8-7) allowed two runs and five hits in 62/3 innings for the Indians, who had lost their last six at Tampa Bay. Shelley Duncan had a seventh-inning solo shot.

“Another quality start by Fausto,” Cleveland manager Manny Acta said. “He deserves all the credit. Contained such a good lineup. Fausto was the key because he was able to allow us to stay in the game until we were able to hit home runs.”

Over the last 13 games, 29 of the 56 runs scored by the Indians have come on home runs.

Shields gave up four runs and six hits in 61/3 innings. The right-hander is 0-5 in six starts at home since beating Oakland on April 28.

“He’s a good pitcher,” Nix said. “Just got a couple pitches that I was able to put the barrel on.”

Nix has two homers in four at-bats overall against Shields, who is 0-4 in six career starts against the Indians.

“We just got outpitched,” Shields said.

Nix hit a grand slam against Shields while with the Chicago White Sox on May 30, which was his only homer before the current hot streak. Cleveland claimed Nix off waivers from Chicago on June 24.

Matt LaPorta had an RBI single during a two-run second that put the Indians up 2-0. Peralta advanced from second to third on a balk and then scored on Shields’ wild pitch.

Austin Kearns hit a run-scoring double in the ninth.

Carlos Pena singled in the third to cut the Indians’ lead to 2-1 and added a ninth-inning solo homer.

Matt Joyce drew a bases-loaded walk from Indians reliever Chris Perez – who walked three in a row before ending the inning by striking out John Jaso – in the seventh as the Rays cut the deficit to 4-2.

“We had plenty of opportunities to score a lot of runs,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said.

They Rays went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 11 runners on base.

Notable

LaPorta (head bruise and sore neck) was back in the lineup after missing the previous three games and finished with three hits. “Great to see,” Acta said. LaPorta was accidentally elbowed in the head by Texas SS Elvis Andrus on Monday.

• Cleveland SS Asdrubal Cabrera (broken left forearm) rejoined the team and resumed batting practice. The infielder could start a minor league rehab assignment early next week.

• Armando Camacaro has joined the Indians as an assistant to the major league coaching staff.

• The Rays are 7-2 in July after going 11-14 during June.

• Tampa Bay LF Carl Crawford stole second in the seventh and has 30 steals this season.

• Tampa Bay signed SS Ryan Brett, taken in the third round of this year’s amateur draft.

TONIGHT

• WHO: Cleveland at Tampa Bay
• TIME: 7:10
• WHERE: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Fla.
• PITCHERS: Laffey (1-2, 5.18 ERA) vs. Garza (9-5, 4.28)
• TV/RADIO: Channel 3, SportsTime Ohio; WEOL 930-AM, WTAM 1100-AM

CLEVELAND — Two Coast Guard rescue boats and a helicopter pressed their search this afternoon for a young woman missing since Thursday night after she and friends aboard a boat decided to go swimming in Lake Erie.

“We’re still searching for her at this time, and we’re still holding onto the hope that she will be found,” said Chief Petty Officer Kyle Niemi of the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District offices in Cleveland.

The missing woman has been identified as Emma Nahas, who is either 20 or 21 years of age, according to information released today by the Coast Guard. The woman was wearing an orange bathing suit but was not believed to be wearing a life jacket.

The woman’s hometown could not be confirmed by Coast Guard personnel, who said family members were there awaiting word from the search.

The Cleveland Coast Guard station began to search fore the woman after Cleveland Police notified the station about 8:30 last night after they received a 911 call.

“We immediately launched a Coast Guard rescue boat crew from Cleveland Harbor and a rescue helicopter from Detroit,” Niemi said.

Nahas is one of 10 people who were reported to be aboard a 24-foot recreational vessel. A number of people aboard the boat reportedly decided to go swimming, but that information could not be verified by the Coast Guard.

The group did not discover the woman was missing from the boat until they returned to port. The craft was said to be two to three miles out in Lake Erie north of 55th Street at the time Nahas went missing.

A 41-foot utility boat launched by the Coast Guard last night to search for Nahas was relieved by a 25-foot boat and crew about 4:45 a.m. today. That second vessel was joined by a second boat and crew this morning.

A Coast Guard Dolphin rescue helicopter from Air Station Detroit was forced to return to Detroit after its crew reached fatigue limits, but a second Dolphin crew and aircraft arrived at Cleveland this morning to take up the search, according to a release issued by the Cleveland station.

Coast Guard crews were assisted in their initial search efforts Thursday night by search boats and crews provided by Cleveland police and the Cleveland Fire Department.

A boat and crew from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources joined the search Friday morning, according to Niemi.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jayson Nix hit another home run, but he couldn’t get the Indians a win Wednesday night.

Nix homered for the fourth time in three games but the Indians still fell 4-3 to the Texas Rangers.

Michael Young homered and Josh Hamilton stretched his home hitting streak to 27 games to lift the Rangers. Young came back refreshed after his first day off of the season with a two-run homer in the fifth that drew the Rangers even at 3.

Entering Wednesday, Young was in a 4-for-25 slump, and manager Ron Washington said Young wasn’t playing up to his All-Star standards and needed a break.

“When you play baseball as much as these guys do some­times one day’s all you need,” Washington said. “I tried as hard as I could to keep them out of the whole game because a whole day off means a lot to a baseball player.”

Young, the Rangers’ career hit leader with 1,768, is competing with four others for the final slot on the AL All-Star team.

“I enjoy the All-Star Game, so I’d like to go, don’t get me wrong,” Young said. “But it also would be nice to get the three days off.”

Hamilton extended the sec­ond- longest home hitting streak in club history with an RBI sin­gle in the first. Al Oliver hit in 30 straight home games in 1981.

Julio Borbon’s two-out single in the sixth off rookie Mitch Talbot (8-8) put Texas ahead.

Nix, claimed off waivers from the White Sox on June 24, batted only .163 with a homer and five RBIs in 24 games for Chicago. He’s been more pro­ductive in his 12 games for the Indians with five homers and eight RBIs.

Talbot allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 2 / 3

innings, losing for the fourth time in his last five starts.

The pitch Talbot regretted was a fastball down the middle that Young knocked into the seats.

“That was one of those pitches that got away from me and I paid for it,” Talbot said.

Seven batters were hit by pitches in the first two games of the series, and Texas’ Andres Blanco became the eighth when he was struck in the leg by Talbot’s fastball in the second inning.

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Indians manager Manny Acta was ejected by first base umpire Tim Timmons with two outs in the ninth for arguing a checked-swing call.

Acta had taken off his cap in the dugout and waved it after Timmons called a strike on a check­swing by Jason Donald. Timmons immediately tossed Acta for the gesture.

Acta raced to first base to argue, and after the game he said his young players don’t always get the benefit of the doubt from umpires.

“It’s a shame,” Acta said. “Everybody’s talking about pace of the game. Here I get thrown out for taking my hat off and I have to go 150 feet (to argue) and delay the game. I know they’re human, but I’ve been doing rebuilding jobs for four years and these kids don’t get the benefit of the doubt.” “They don’t get the same check-swing calls as some of the other guys,” he said.

Notable

Indians 1B Matt LaPorta didn’t start for the sec­ond consecutive game after being accidentally elbowed in the head by Elvis Andrus on Monday night. LaPorta has a bruise on his head and a sore neck.

FORT WORTH, Texas — A firefighter who tum­bled about 30 feet from the Texas Rangers stands while trying to catch a foul ball received a hospi­tal visit — and the ball — from team president Nolan Ryan on Wednesday.

Tyler Morris, 25, who works at the Lake Cities Fire Department near Dallas, was at Tuesday night’s game with fellow firefighters when he fell over a sec­ond- deck railing onto field-level seats below.

He suffered a head injury and sprained ankle but no internal injuries, and was expected to be released from the hospital soon, friends said.

“Everything was happening so fast,” said Kevin Conner, who attended the game with Morris. “The ball went over us and bounced off the seats … and he went toward it. Then he flipped all the way around but grabbed onto the railing (before falling). That’s what saved his life.”

Conner said Morris had not been drinking at the game.

After Texas’ Nelson Cruz hit the foul ball in the fifth inning of the game against the Indians, the crowd gasped loudly, cried “Oh!” and stood up after Morris fell. Players and fans appeared wor­ried and somber, and the game was delayed about 15 minutes as paramedics treated Morris and transported him to a Fort Worth hospital.

Four people struck when Morris fell were treated at the ballpark for minor injuries.

Morris, described by friends as outgoing and kindhearted, was still a bit shocked Wednesday but was talking and making jokes, his friends said. “Tyler’s used to being the person that helps other people, and now he’s in the position of needing help,” said Ben Westcott, a close friend and firefighter in the Fort Worth suburb of Watauga. “He said he’s thankful to be alive, and he knows he’s lucky.”

Ryan, the Hall of Fame pitcher and Rangers president, said Morris welcomed his visit and was “thrilled” to receive the foul ball he tried to catch. Ryan said the incident “hasn’t lessened his enthu­siasm for the Rangers.”

Ryan said the ballpark’s railings were 30.25 inches tall, higher than the required 26 inches. He said the team did not plan to raise the height of the railings. “So we feel it was strictly an accident, an unfor­tunate thing that happened,” Ryan said at a Wednesday news conference. “It’s pretty hard to guard against something of that nature.”

Some railings had been raised following a 1994 incident after the Rangers’ first game at the ball­park. A woman posing for a picture suffered mul­tiple injuries after falling 35 feet, but Ryan said that incident was not related to the railings.