Altuve's homer lifts Astros to sweep Rangers, take AL West lead

HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve hit a two-run home run and Jeremy Peña homered and doubled to help the Houston Astros complete a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers with a 5-2 win Wednesday night.

The victory coupled with Seattle’s loss to Kansas City moves the Astros 1/2 game ahead of the Mariners for first place in the AL West.

The game was tied 2-2 when Carlos Correa singled to start the third. Altuve’s home run off Jacob deGrom (12-8) to the seats in left field put the Astros on top 4-2. Altuve has 37 homers and 100 RBIs in his career against the Rangers, which are his most against any team.

Peña connected off deGrom on his home run to the first row in right field to start Houston’s fifth and push the lead to 5-2.

Cristian Javier (2-3) allowed five hits and two runs in six strong innings for the win in his seventh start after missing more than a year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Bryan King pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.

DeGrom yielded six hits and tied a season-high with five runs. He lasted just five innings after the Astros forced him to throw 35 pitches in the first.

Peña hit a leadoff double before a single by Correa. There were two outs in the inning when Yainer Diaz’s single scored them both to give Houston an early lead.

Alejandro Osuna singled with one out in the second and stole second base. The Rangers cut the lead to 2-1 on an RBI double by Josh Jung. Cody Freeman singled with two outs to send Jung home and tie it.

The Rangers went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position as they lost their fourth straight game.

Altuve’s home run that put Houston up for good.

The win gives the Astros a 7-6 advantage in the season series against the Rangers. They’ve won the series, called the Silver Boot, every year since 2017.

Both teams are off Thursday before Texas hosts the opener of a three-game series against Miami on Friday night and the Mariners come to Houston to start a key division series that night.

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Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena (3) misses the catch as Texas Rangers' Wyatt Langford, right, safely steals second base during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob deGrom throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier throws against the Texas Rangers during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Houston Astros' Carlos Correa, left, and Jeremy Pena, right, celebrate the solo home run by Pena against the Texas Rangers during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Houston Astros' Jose Altuve swings on his two run home run against the Texas Rangers during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon on Tuesday and warned residents of more than 80 villages to evacuate as the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group said it was ready for an “open war” with Israel in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The development came after Hezbollah fired rockets and launched drones early Monday toward northern Israel. Israel retaliated with a wave of airstrikes that killed 50 people in Lebanon, including seven children as well as a Palestinian militant and a Hezbollah intelligence official in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

That death toll is a revised figure from an earlier one reported by the Health Ministry, which originally said Monday that 52 people died in the strikes. Lebanese Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine then on Tuesday reduced that number to 40, then later raised the toll to 50.

Lebanon also said 335 people were wounded and that tens of thousands were displaced.

The U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday that 30,000 displaced people were staying in collective shelters in Lebanon, “while many others slept in their cars, on sides of the roads as they could not yet find safe shelter.”

Hezbollah fired two salvos of rockets toward northern Israel, the militant group said while Israeli airstrikes overnight damaged a building housing Hezbollah’s television and radio stations. Beirut’s southern suburbs also saw a series of strikes on Tuesday afternoon that came without warning. The Israeli military later said it targeted Hezbollah officials.

The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, warned residents of more than 80 villages and towns in southern Lebanon to leave, adding that people should not return to these areas until further notice.

A senior Hezbollah official said that after more than a year of abiding by a ceasefire as Israel’s strikes continued on Lebanon, the group’s patience has ended, leaving it with no option but to fight Israel. “The Zionist enemy wanted an open war, which it has not stopped since the ceasefire agreement,” Mohamoud Komati said.

“So let it be an open war,” added the Hezbollah official.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told the ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States, France and Egypt on Tuesday that Hezbollah has been firing rockets from areas north of the Litani River. That's outside an area south of the river and along the border with Israel, where Lebanese troops have earlier said they are in full control.

The Israeli military said Tuesday it sent additional troops into southern Lebanon and took new positions on several strategic points close to the border. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its positions along the border.

Adraee, the Israeli spokesman, said on X that the troops’ movements inside Lebanon are meant to bolster Israel's forward defense system and create an addition layer of security.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its border positions.

A Lebanese military official confirmed to The Associated Press that Israeli troops had moved into several areas in southern Lebanon on Tuesday and that the Lebanese army was “repositioning” in the area. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, later Tuesday said its peacekeepers saw Israeli troops making forays across the border and then returning to Israel. Israel’s army said its troops are still operating in Lebanon, but it wasn't clear how many soldiers remained inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, a full-scale war erupted in September 2024 and Israel later launched a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israeli forces withdrew from most of southern Lebanon after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting in November 2024 but continued to occupy five points on the Lebanese side of the border. Israel also continued with near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah has been trying to rebuild its positions there.

Lebanon's Health Ministry also said Tuesday that 397 people had been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon after the ceasefire took effect and before Hezbollah launched its latest attacks.

Thousands of Syrians living in Lebanon crossed back into Syria, fleeing Israeli strikes over the past two days.

UNHCR said the number of people crossing from Lebanon into Syria jumped on Monday to 10,629 from typically between 3,900 and 4,400 a day since the holy Islamic month of Ramadan began in February. The vast majority were Syrian, but a small number of Lebanese citizens also crossed.

Azzam Sweiri, a Syrian farm laborer working in southern Lebanon, said he saw streets "packed with cars and people” as he fled the bombardment.

“It took us 10 or 12 hours just to make it 30 or 40 kilometers,” he said after crossing in to Syria Tuesday, adding that after he left, he heard that the house next to the one where he lived was hit by an Israeli airstrike.

Associated Press journalists Ghaith AlSayed and Omar Sanadiki in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, contributed to this report.

A Syrian man carries a child as they cross the Syrian-Lebanese border into Syria, fleeing Lebanon due to Israeli airstrikes, in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Firefighters inspect the rubble as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

FILE - Employees work in the newsroom of Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV station in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A firefighter extinguishes a burned shop at a building that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)