ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Otto Lopez got three hits, drove in a run and scored another as the Miami Marlins won their sixth game in a row, 4-2 over the Texas Rangers on Sunday in a matchup of teams unlikely to make the playoffs but still mathematically alive with six games left.
Wyatt Langford hit his 22nd homer for Texas (79-77), whose seven-game losing streak is its longest this season. The Rangers are five games behind Houston (84-72) and Cleveland, who are tied for the final American League wild card.
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Miami Marlins' Otto Lopez steals second base during the second inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman runs after hitting a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Texas Rangers Wyatt Langford hits a solo home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins' Brian Navarreto looks at his ball as he hits a sacrifice fly ball to score teammate Graham Pauley during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins' Graham Pauley scores a run off a sacrifice fly ball by teammate Brian Navarreto during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Eury Pérez celebrates while walking towards the dugout after striking out Texas Rangers' Jonah Heim during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
The Astros, who hold the tiebreaker over Texas, were swept this weekend by Seattle after the AL West-leading Mariners finished the series with a 7-3 win Sunday night. Before that, Houston had swept three games against the Rangers, who finish the regular season next weekend in Cleveland.
Miami (76-80) went ahead to stay in the fourth when Lopez had an RBI double and scored on a single by Heriberto Hernández off Merrill Kelly (12-9). Back-to-back doubles by Jakob Marsee and Agustín Ramírez made it 3-0 in the fifth.
The Marlins were four games behind the New York Mets (80-76) and Cincinnati, who were tied for the last National League wild card.
Lake Bachar (8-2) worked two innings for the win after taking over for 22-year-old starter Eury Pérez, who set a season high by striking out nine in four scoreless innings. Pérez allowed two hits and walked one while throwing 88 pitches.
George Soriano worked the ninth for his first save.
After Texas scored twice in the sixth to pull to 3-2, Graham Pauley led off the Marlins seventh with a triple to deep center field and No. 9 batter Brian Navarreto followed with a sacrifice fly to the same area for a 4-2 lead.
Miami has won 10 of its last 11 games and its 76 total wins are already 14 more than last season.
Both teams get a day off before playing Tuesday night, when Miami is at NL East champion Philadelphia, and Texas hosts Minnesota.
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Miami Marlins' Otto Lopez steals second base during the second inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Texas Rangers' Cody Freeman runs after hitting a single during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Texas Rangers Wyatt Langford hits a solo home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins' Brian Navarreto looks at his ball as he hits a sacrifice fly ball to score teammate Graham Pauley during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins' Graham Pauley scores a run off a sacrifice fly ball by teammate Brian Navarreto during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Eury Pérez celebrates while walking towards the dugout after striking out Texas Rangers' Jonah Heim during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Ronaldo Bolaños)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its 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, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.
The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, 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 thought to have been 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 said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, 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.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was 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.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky 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)
