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)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Thursday at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by then-President Nicolás Maduro before the United States captured him in an audacious military raid this month.

Less than two weeks after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, Trump will host the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Machado, having already dismissed her credibility to run Venezuela and raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in the country.

“She’s a very nice woman,” Trump told Reuters in an interview about Machado. “I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics.”

The meeting comes as Trump and his top advisers have signaled their willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and along with others in the deposed leader's inner circle remain in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.

Rodríguez herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move reportedly made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.

Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.

“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump told reporters. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela. She had sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key advisers like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a political gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government. She also intends to have a meeting in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.

Despite her alliance with Republicans, Trump was quick to snub her following Maduro’s capture. Just hours afterward, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.”

Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump coveted. She has since thanked Trump and offered to share the prize with him, a move that has been rejected by the Nobel Institute.

Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.

The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.

A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.

Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)