Evan Carter hit an inside-the-park home run and Jacob deGrom threw a gem as the Texas Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-1 in the rubber match of a three-game set in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday night.

deGrom (2-0) had a season-high 10 strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one run.

With Josh Jung on first and two out in the third inning, Carter hit a deep fly ball to right field that bounced hard off the wall in front of the Rangers’ bullpen and bounded into the middle of the outfield. By the time center fielder Oneil Cruz tracked the ball down, Jung was crossing home plate and Carter slid in ahead of the relay throw for his first career inside-the-park homer.

Furthering the drama, the inside-the-parker came after the Pirates starter Bubba Chandler (1-2) had successfully used the ABS challenge system to overturn a called ball four and extend the at-bat.

One inning later, Corey Seager’s three-run shot off Chandler broke the game open, doubling the Rangers’ 3-0 advantage with one swing. The rally began with back-to-back walks by Josh Smith and Alejandro Osuna to lead off the inning. Joc Pederson’s one-out RBI single brought home Smith and set the table for Seager’s sixth home run of 2026.

Chandler exited after the fourth, giving up six runs, seven hits and three walks.

Cruz responded for Pittsburgh in the fifth, hitting a two-out solo shot to snap deGrom’s shutout. He also went deep in the Pirates’ 8-4 win on Wednesday.

In the sixth, the Pirates chased deGrom and loaded the bases with two out, but Jung laid out at third base to force a groundout that robbed Konnor Griffin of a potential extra-base hit and multiple RBIs.

Both bullpens pitched shutouts to close out the game, with Gavin Collyer, Jalen Beeks, Jakob Junis and Peyton Gray (making his Major League debut) combining for 4 1/3 scoreless innings to seal the victory for Texas.

–Field Level Media

Logan Stankoven scored for the third straight game and the Carolina Hurricanes put the Senators on the brink of elimination with a 2-1 win in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference first-round playoff series in Ottawa on Thursday.

Carolina leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and Game 4 is set for Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.

Only four teams in NHL history have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series. The last team to do it was the Los Angeles Kings against the San Jose Sharks in 2014.

Jackson Blake also scored for the Hurricanes. Taylor Hall had two assists, and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves.

Drake Batherson scored his second goal of the series for the Senators, who have yet to have the lead at any point through three games. Linus Ullmark made 25 saves in the loss.

Carolina went 0-for-4 on the power play; Ottawa was 0-for-5 and is 0-for-12 for the series.

Stankoven opened the scoring, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 5:13 of the first period. Hall got his own rebound after a shot on the rush, circled behind the net and then passed across to Stankoven, who scored on a wrist shot from the left circle.

Brady Tkachuk got in alone against Andersen early in the second period, but his backhand attempt was stopped.

The Senators had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:28 midway through the second period but did not convert.

Ottawa defenseman Jake Sanderson left the game at 10:07 of the second period with an apparent injury after taking a shot off his left hand. He had earlier taken a shot to the head from Hall.

Batherson tied it 1-1 at 16:06 when he received Nick Cousins’ pass in the slot, went to his backhand and lifted it in over Andersen’s pad.

Blake put the Hurricanes back on top 2-1 at 17:29. K’Andre Miller received a pass at the point, skated down to the top of the left circle and passed down across to Blake, who scored past the diving Ullmark from the far post.

–Field Level Media