Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami was removed in the third inning of Friday’s game against the Detroit Tigers after tweaking his hamstring.

Murakami, whose 20 home runs share the American League lead with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez, grabbed at his right hamstring after hustling down the first base line to avoid a 4-6-3 double play.

Murakami walked slowly back to the dugout without needing assistance.

“He’ll be evaluated and we’ll see what we got,” White Sox manager Will Venable told CHSN after the inning ended. “Obviously, it grabbed on him. In that instance, you just want to make sure he’s all right and not push it. Obviously with all our guys, we want to protect them and make sure they’re healthy.”

Luisangel Acuna ran for Murakami and scored on Miguel Vargas’ double. In the top of the fourth, Vargas moved from third to first, Acuna took over at short and Colson Montgomery slid from short to third. Montgomery stayed in the game despite tweaking his lower back while popping out to close the third inning.

Murakami has been a revelation for a White Sox squad that entered Friday’s game as the No. 2 wild card in the American League. The 26-year-old first baseman has appeared in all 57 games and delivered a .240/.378/.560 slash line with 20 homers, 41 RBIs and 44 walks.

–Field Level Media

Teagan Kavan threw a four-hit shutout to lift Texas to a 4-0 win over Mississippi State in an elimination game in the Women’s College World Series on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Kavan, the WCWS Most Outstanding Player during last year’s title run, struggled in a three-inning performance in Thursday’s opening-round loss to Tennessee. But the junior righty bounced back in a big way against the Bulldogs.

After Xiane Romero’s two-out double in the first, Kavan retired eight consecutive hitters until Romero singled in the fourth.

Kavan got all the run support she needed in the second on Kaiah Altmeyer’s two-run home run.

Altmeyer jumped on Delainey Everett’s first pitch to put Texas on top. The home run was Altmeyer’s first of the season.

The Longhorns added another on Kayden Henry’s solo home run in the fifth.

Texas added another insurance run in the seventh when Katie Stewart scored from first on Viviana Martinez’s double to left center off Peja Goold.

Romero led off the seventh with a single for her third hit of the game. But after Kinley Keller followed with another single, Kavan retired three consecutive hitters to finish off the shutout. Kavan struck out just two hitters in the win.

Texas (48-12) takes on the loser of Saturday’s Alabama-Nebraska game in an elimination game 3 p.m. Sunday.

Mississippi State, which was in the WCWS for the first time in program history, finished 43-21.

–Field Level Media

Michael Harris II went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, Ronald Acuna Jr. homered and the visiting Atlanta Braves posted an 8-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the first contest of a three-game set on Friday.

Jorge Mateo drove in two runs and Dominic Smith had three hits and two runs for Atlanta, which earned its major league-leading 39th win and improved to 20 games above .500. Grant Holmes tossed 4 2/3 innings for the Braves, allowing three runs on seven hits, striking out five and walking one. Didier Fuentes (4-0) earned the win, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Chris Paddack (0-7) continued his winless start to the season, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks across five innings for the Reds, who dropped their second straight after winning five of their previous six. JJ Bleday and Nathaniel Lowe each homered for Cincinnati.

Acuna opened the scoring with a leadoff homer in the first — his fourth home run of the season and second in as many games.

In the second, Smith singled before Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski both walked to load the bases with nobody out. Mateo then drove in the second Atlanta run with a groundout. Chadwick Tromp followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.

After Acuna’s walk, Harris’ RBI single extended the margin to four.

The Reds cut into their deficit in the bottom of the fourth, as Bleday launched his eighth homer of the season to begin the frame. Sal Stewart followed with a double, but was caught stealing by Tromp for the second out.

Lowe sliced the Reds’ deficit to 4-2 with a solo homer to right — his ninth of the year.

Holmes allowed TJ Friedl’s leadoff single in the fifth, before Bleday’s two-out base hit placed runners on the corners. Fuentes then replaced Holmes and surrendered an RBI single to Stewart, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Yunior Marte threw the sixth for the Reds, allowing Smith’s leadoff single before hitting Riley with a pitch. Yastrzemski laced a double to give the Braves a 5-3 edge. Mateo followed with a run-scoring single, and Harris drove in two more with a double to left.

–Field Level Media