Wyatt Langford and Kyle Higashioka homered in back-to-back innings to start the game, and the visiting Texas Rangers avoided a three-game series sweep at the hands of the Boston Red Sox with a 6-4 win on Sunday night.

The Rangers tagged Boston starter Connelly Early (5-5) for six runs and 11 hits through the first 4 2/3 innings and totaled 13 knocks in the game.

Beyond the long balls, Brandon Nimmo (2-for-5) hit a clutch two-RBI double in the fourth inning, while Justin Foscue went 3-for-3 with a run scored. Higashioka and Cody Freeman also had multiple hits.

The early offense stood tall as Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi (6-7) pitched seven innings, striking out six while working around three runs and six hits.

Willson Contreras homered twice on his 3-for-4 night and Masataka Yoshida went 2-for-4 with a double and run scored to lead the Red Sox, who have lost five of their last seven games.

With the Tartan Army filling the Fenway Park stands after Scotland’s World Cup win in Foxborough, Mass., on Saturday, Early was tagged for a first-pitch leadoff home run for a second consecutive start. Langford crushed a solo shot completely over the Green Monster and out of the ballpark to lift Texas to an immediate 1-0 lead in the first inning.

The Rangers busted open the score with three straight hits to start the second. After Foscue and Cody Freeman stung back-to-back singles to center, Higashioka drove them both home with a three-run shot that just cleared the left-field wall.

After Eovaldi set down his former team 1-2-3 to start the game, Contreras went deep to left to get Boston on the scoreboard at 4-1. The inning continued with Caleb Durbin drawing a one-out walk and Isiah Kiner-Falefa knocking an infield single over second base. After a wild pitch moved both into scoring position, Marcelo Mayer’s RBI grounder made it a two-run game.

Early escaped a two-on jam without any damage in the third, but Texas extended its lead in the following frame. Alejandro Osuna started the rally with a one-out single, then back-to-back walks preceded Nimmo’s key double high off the Monster.

While Greg Weissert (1 1/3 innings), Ryan Watson (two innings) and Tommy Kahnle (one inning) teamed up for scoreless relief, Boston inched closer when Contreras knocked another solo shot out to deep left with two outs in the sixth, making it a 6-3 game.

In the eighth, Yoshida’s one-out knock got the Sox started, and he scored on Abreu’s liner to right two batters later.

Contreras followed with his third hit, but Jacob Latz entered to induce an inning-ending grounder from Jarren Duran before dealing a scoreless ninth to finalize his 11th save.

–Field Level Media

On a day a trio of teams booked playoff spots and another three were eliminated at the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major in Germany, it was hard to find a team more relieved at the end of Sunday’s Stage 3 action than Team Falcons.

Unless you’re looking at The MongolZ.

Team Vitality and Aurora Gaming joined Falcons in advancing to the playoffs out of the Round 4 high matches, while Monte — who fell to MongolZ — was eliminated in the low matches, along with MOUZ and Legacy.

At the start of Stage 3, 16 teams were still standing at the Counter-Strike 2 tournament that began with 32 entrants, competing for their share of a $1.25 million prize pool with the grand final scheduled for June 21. The champion receives $500,000.

Stage 3 utilizes a Swiss System format and all matches are best-of-three. The top eight finishers will proceed to the playoffs next week while the bottom three will be eliminated.

Falcons won a marathon third map, needing two overtimes to down Natus Vincere 2-1 to book a spot in the playoffs. After Falcons topped Natus Vincere 13-3 on Dust II, they lost 13-7 on Mirage. After the teams were tied 12-12 at the end of regulation on Anubis, they again were even at 15-15 at the end of the first overtime. Falcons dominated the second extra frame, outscoring Natus Vincere 4-1 in the second OT to win the map 19-16.

Russia’s Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov led the way for the Falcons with 57 kills and a plus-21 kill-death differential. Natus Vincere’s Mihai “iM” Ivan of Romania also posted 57 kills in the loss.

In the biggest blowout of the day, Aurora handled 9z Team 2-0, winning 13-1 on Nuke and 13-5 on Dust II. Caner “soulfly” Kesici led all-Turkish Aurora with 34 kills and a plus-18. Argentina’s Luciano “luchov” Herrera posted a team-high 20 kills in the loss.

In the third high match, Vitality took Overpass 13-8 and Nuke 13-11 to sweep BetBoom Team. Despite the short match, France’s Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut tallied 53 kills and a plus-19 in the win. BetBoom, made up entirely of Russian players, was led by Kirill “Boombl4” Mikhailov’s 36 kills.

As for MongolZ, they sat one map from elimination after dropping Nuke 13-9 to Monte. But they responded with a 13-7 win on Inferno and 13-11 win on Dust II to survive and send Monte home.

FUT Esports beat MOUZ 13-11 on Ancient before dropping Nuke 13-10. FUT emerged in the winner-take-all final map with a 13-7 win on Mirage. The final low match of the day provided the round’s only sweep, with G2 Esports beating Legacy 13-7 on Dust II and 13-4 on Overpass.

Monday will see the six remaining teams play for the final three available playoff spots in a trio of elimination matches.

Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major

Monday’s schedule

–9z Team vs. The MongolZ

–BetBoom Team vs. FUT Esports

–Natus Vincere vs. G2 Esports

Prize Pool

1. $500,000

2. $170,000

3-4. $80,000

5-8. $45,000

9-11. $15,000

12-14. $15,000 — MOUZ, Monte, Legacy

15-16. $15,000 — B8, PARIVISION

17-19. $10,000 — paiN Gaming, TYLOO, BIG

20-22. $10,000 — MIBR, M80, Astralis

23-24. $10,000 — GamerLegion, FlyQuest

25-27. $5,000 — Lynn Vision Gaming, NRG, Team Liquid

28-30. $5,000 — THUNDERdOWNUNDER, Sharks Esports, HEROIC

31-32. $5,000 — Gaimin Gladiators, SINNERS Esports

–Field Level Media

LAS VEGAS — Rod Brind’Amour captained the Carolina Hurricanes to their first Stanley Cup in 2006.

Now 20 years later, he’ll get his name on the trophy again as head coach of the Hurricanes.

Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi, a waiver-wire pickup from Florida in October, made 22 saves to win his third straight start and record his first career playoff shutout, and Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist to lead the Hurricanes to a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 on Sunday night.

Taylor Hall and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Carolina, which won the best-of-seven series, 4-2.

Carolina captain Jordan Staal, who tied a Stanley Cup Final record with goals in five straight games to start the series and totaled six goals in the finals, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs.

Carter Hart finished with 20 saves for Vegas, which lost in the finals for the second time in the team’s nine-year history. The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup in 2023.

Hall gave Carolina a 1-0 lead at the 3:47 mark of the first period. Jaccob Slavin set up the score with a stretch pass from blue line to blue line. Hall was open as he took the pass and broke in on the left wing, beating Hart with a wrist shot past his glove side for his seventh goal of the playoffs and second in the finals.

Vegas, which outshot the Hurricanes, 11-8, in the opening period, had several excellent chances to tie the game later in the period. Brett Howden broke in alone down the slot midway through the period, but Bussi made a stick save on his five-hole try.

The Golden Knights had a flurry of chances near the end of the period, including two close-in tries by Mark Stone and a one-timer by Pavel Dorofeyev from the bottom of the right circle that Bussi made a diving save to stop.

Carolina tightened up on defense in the second period, holding Vegas to just three shots on goal. The Hurricanes extended the lead to 2-0 at the 13:31 mark when Logan Stankoven fed Blake alone on the edge on the right circle, and Blake blasted a one-timer past Hart’s glove side for his seventh goal of the playoffs.

Vegas had a chance to cut the lead in half midway through the third period when Carolina forward Eric Robinson went to the penalty box for high-sticking Nic Dowd. On the ensuing power play, Stone crossed a pass to a wide-open Jack Eichel at the bottom edge of the left circle, but Eichel’s snap shot against a stickless Bussi went off the crossbar.

The Golden Knights pulled Hart for an extra attacker with three minutes to go, and Ehlers intercepted a pass and sealed the win with an empty-netter, his eighth goal of the playoffs.

–Steve Guiremand, Field Level Media