Yordan Alvarez went 3-for-4 with two solo home runs, including a go-ahead blast in the eighth inning, and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 4-3 on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.

Alvarez has hit five home runs in his last three games to pull even with Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami for the American League lead with 20 homers.

Mike Burrows (3-6) allowed two runs on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings. He retired 20 of his final 23 batters to help Houston win for the fifth time in its last six games. Bryan King gave up Joc Pederson’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth before Enyel De Los Santos pitched the final 1 2/3 innings for his fourth save.

Alvarez broke a 2-2 tie by crushing a 3-0 sweeper from Tyler Alexander (1-1) to start the eighth. After Christian Walker walked, another run scored on Taylor Trammell’s sacrifice bunt when Alexander’s throw sailed past first baseman Jake Burger.

Pederson went 3-for-4 with a pair of solo homers for Texas, which has lost five of its last six. Pederson has gone deep three times in his last two games.

The Rangers claimed a 1-0 lead in the first inning against Burrows, who was greeted by Pederson’s leadoff single. Pederson moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s one-out single.

Houston answered with a run in the second inning against Jacob deGrom, who was denied in his bid for his 100th career victory.

Trammell doubled to begin the inning, advanced to third on Cam Smith’s fly ball and scored on Braden Shewmake’s sacrifice fly.

Pederson began the third inning by depositing Burrows’ 0-1 changeup over the wall in right center.

Houston pulled even on Alvarez’s leadoff homer in the fourth against deGrom, who allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out six.

With two more home runs on Wednesday, Alvarez has 25 homers against the Rangers in 72 regular season games.

–Field Level Media

The visiting Hurricanes scored three times in less than three minutes in the first period and Frederik Andersen made 18 saves, lifting Carolina to a 4-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

The Hurricanes hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Carolina can punch its ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history with a win in Game 5 on Friday in Raleigh, N.C.

Sebastian Aho scored a power-play goal and captain Jordan Staal and Logan Stankoven also converted in a 2:47 stretch late in the first period. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net tally late in the third period.

Andersen turned aside three shots in the third period to preserve his eighth career postseason shutout and fifth with the Hurricanes, surpassing Cam Ward for the most in franchise history. Andersen has three shutouts this postseason, one in each round.

Nikolaj Ehlers and defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere each notched two assists for the Hurricanes, who became the seventh team in NHL history to win each of its first six road games of a postseason.

Jakub Dobes made 39 saves on his 25th birthday for the Canadiens, who have lost four in a row at home and six of eight overall in Montreal during the playoffs.

Carolina opened the scoring for the fourth time in as many games in this series after Aho’s one-timer from the right circle beat Dobes inside the near post with 5:01 remaining in the first period.

Aho’s 11th career power-play goal in the playoffs eclipsed former captain Eric Staal for the most in franchise history.

The Hurricanes doubled the advantage 68 seconds later after defenseman K’Andre Miller skated below the goal line and backhanded a centering feed that caromed off the stick of Jordan Staal and into the goal. Montreal’s Josh Anderson was attempting to fend off Jordan Staal in front of the net.

Gostisbehere blocked a shot by Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, setting up a 2-on-1 rush that saw Jackson Blake feed Stankoven for his team-leading eighth goal of the playoffs 1:39 later.

Dobes extended his left pad to deny Blake on a breakaway to keep the game scoreless just over two minutes into the game.

–Field Level Media

Los Angeles Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez left Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies after the second inning with a left hamstring strain.

Hernandez hit a ground ball to shortstop in his first at-bat and had a pronounced limp after running through the first-base bag. He grabbed at his left hamstring after reaching the dugout.

Hyeseong Kim replaced Hernandez in left field to start the third inning, his first appearance in left during two seasons in the major leagues.

In 51 games this season, Hernandez is batting .276 with seven home runs and 31 RBIs. After some early-season struggles, Hernandez entered Wednesday’s game batting .370 with three home runs over his previous 15 contests.

A veteran of 11 seasons, Hernandez is a career .261 hitter with 224 home runs and 692 RBIs in 1,149 games with the Houston Astros (2016-17), Toronto Blue Jays (2017-22), Seattle Mariners (2023) and Dodgers (2024-26).

–Field Level Media