HOUSTON (AP) — Taylor Trammell had two RBIs and Christian Walker added two hits and drove in a run to held give the Houston Astros a 5-4 victory over the Texas Rangers Saturday night that increased their lead in the AL West.
It’s the fifth straight victory for the Astros and their 10th in 11 games that has propelled them to a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers atop the division.
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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob Degrom walks toward the dugout after being pulled during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Texas Rangers' Elias Díaz, right, celebrates with Nicky Lopez (33) after hitting a home run against the Houston Astros during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Texas Rangers' Alejandro Osuna, right, watches his RBI single in front of Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Christian Walker (8) scores as Texas Rangers catcher Elias Díaz handles the throw during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez (44) scores on a wild pitch by Texas Rangers pitcher Cole Winn, left, during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Taylor Trammell celebrates after hitting a two-run single against the Texas Rangers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Wyatt Langford and Elias Díaz hit solo homers for the Rangers, who dropped their fourth in a row.
The Rangers trailed by 2 with one out in the sixth when Díaz’s homer to right field to cut the lead to 5-4.
But Houston’s bullpen shut Texas down the rest of the way. Closer Josh Hader struck out one in a scoreless ninth to improve to 15-for-15 on save opportunities.
The game was tied when the Astros loaded the bases with one out in the fourth. Walker’s RBI single on a grounder to first that a diving Joc Pederson deflected made it 4-3.
That ended Jacob deGrom’s night and Cole Winn took over. Houston pushed the lead to 5-3 when Yordan Alvarez scored on a wild pitch by Winn.
Alvarez, who has an MLB-leading 35 homers, doubled and scored twice on a night he was intentionally walked two times.
Texas loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth but Bennett Souza struck out Ezequiel Duran to escape the jam.
The Astros took an early lead when Jose Altuve scored on a two-out single in the second inning by LaMonte Wade Jr.
The Rangers tied it on Langford’s homer to left field with two outs in the third.
The bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the inning when Trammell singled on a grounder to left field to score two and put Houston up 3-1.
Alejandro Osuna’s RBI single with one out in the fourth cut the lead to 1. Díaz followed with a sacrifice bunt that sent another run home to tie it at 3-all.
Houston starter Ronel Blanco allowed five hits and three runs in 4 2/3 innings. deGrom (7-7) yielded seven hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Houston RHP Peter Lambert (8-5, 3.06 ERA) opposes RHP Kumar Rocker (4-8, 4.03) when the series concludes Sunday.
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Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jacob Degrom walks toward the dugout after being pulled during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Texas Rangers' Elias Díaz, right, celebrates with Nicky Lopez (33) after hitting a home run against the Houston Astros during the sixth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Texas Rangers' Alejandro Osuna, right, watches his RBI single in front of Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Christian Walker (8) scores as Texas Rangers catcher Elias Díaz handles the throw during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez (44) scores on a wild pitch by Texas Rangers pitcher Cole Winn, left, during the fourth inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Houston Astros' Taylor Trammell celebrates after hitting a two-run single against the Texas Rangers during the third inning of a baseball game Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
LACANAU, France (AP) — Europe’s wildfire crisis fractured along starkly different fronts Sunday: gale-force winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris against renewed spread, and Spain’s major fires finally stopped advancing.
The center of immediate danger was Greece. Gale-force winds drove flames deeper into western Attica, the administrative region that includes the capital, threatening villages and an industrial district outside the city of Megara as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea.
But the easing emergency farther west offered little sense of an ending. France’s largest wildfire remained contained after 224,000 people were forced to flee in what may have been the largest peacetime evacuation in French history. Yet active pockets still burned across 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of devastated forest.
Thousands remained unable to return home, and nearly 3,000 firefighters were deployed against the Gironde megafire and a second blaze in Provence that had stopped advancing but remained uncontained.
Fires in France and Spain alone have driven roughly a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied communities at the height of the European summer and stretched firefighters, aircraft and emergency services across simultaneous disasters.
The crisis is unfolding on the world’s fastest-warming continent. Europe has heated at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Higher temperatures and prolonged drought leave forests and scrubland drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely. Human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of the extreme fire conditions that fueled the French blazes scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a rapid analysis Thursday while the fires were still burning.
Greek authorities ordered three more communities evacuated Sunday as flames advanced through western Attica, threatening villages along the Geraneia mountains and an industrial district outside Megara.
Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed, but gale-force winds strengthened the fire while crippling the response. The winds drove flames through dry forest and made it impossible for some aircraft to descend to the sea for water.
Smoke rose over the mountains as evacuation orders were issued for the communities of Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was briefed on the operation, with authorities particularly concerned about Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth.
The fire began Friday near Agios Vasileios before sweeping toward Porto Germeno and into the forested mountains west of Athens.
Firefighters evacuated 254 people by sea from Agios Vasileios on Friday and another 12 from Porto Germeno on Saturday — an escape route of last resort in coastal communities where fire and smoke can cut the few roads out.
Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated Saturday that the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometers (15 to 19 square miles), though authorities had not issued an official figure.
“A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,” local farmer Minas Tzortzanis said Saturday. “There are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.”
The danger carried grim resonance in Greece. In 2018, a wind-driven wildfire trapped residents in the seaside community of Mati, east of Athens, killing 104 people in Europe’s deadliest wildfire this century.
In southwestern France, the Gironde megafire remained contained Sunday but was still burning after scorching 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of forest in just 10 days.
“The fire is now fixed, which does not mean that the fire is extinguished,” the Gironde prefecture said Sunday, using the French firefighting term for a blaze whose advance has been stopped and whose perimeter has been contained.
The region remained under France’s highest red forest-fire alert. Dry conditions and soaring temperatures around Bordeaux, combined with afternoon winds, created a continued risk of renewed flames.
Additional firefighters from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected Sunday and Monday to reinforce the operation.
Hundreds of kilometers away, nearly 1,500 firefighters were battling a separate fire in the southeastern Var department that tore through roughly 18 square kilometers (7 square miles) in little more than a day.
Authorities said the fire in the Gros Bessillon hills was stabilized Sunday morning, meaning its perimeter had not expanded overnight. But unlike the Gironde fire, it had not yet been declared contained.
Firefighting aircraft supported crews working to keep the flames away from villages among the vineyards, olive groves and wooded hills of the region known as Green Provence.
About 2,500 people were evacuated as the fire threatened communities.
The blaze was the fourth major fire to strike the central Var since July 19. A separate, smaller fire near Brignoles earlier in the week forced Hollywood actor George Clooney and his family, along with about 700 other residents, to evacuate before it was brought under control.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France’s wildfires were generally under control but cautioned that conditions remained highly changeable.
He also announced that a national coordinator attached to the prime minister’s office would oversee reconstruction in fire-ravaged areas.
More than 1,170 square kilometers (452 square miles) have burned across France since the beginning of the year.
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Adamson reported from Paris. Michael Varaklas in Megara, Greece contributed to this report
A firefighting helicopter drops water over a smoke-filled forest during a wildfire near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
A firefighting helicopter drops water over a smoke-filled forest during a wildfire near Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
An Airbus helicopter lets a Bambi Bucket full of water go over a firezone, near Blagon, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
A firefighting helicopter releases water over a wildfire near Correns, southeastern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (Clement Mahoudeau/Pool Photo via AP)
The light flows through a charred forest near Ares, during wildfires in southwestern France, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An aerial view of a homes burned by wildfires in Le Porge, southwestern France, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Nicolas Garriga)
A firefighter walks through a charred forest near Blagon, during wildfires, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
