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

HOUSTON AP Jose Altuve hit a two-run home run and Jeremy Pe a homered and doubled to help the Houston Astros complete a three-game sweep of the Texas Rangers with a - win Wednesday night The win coupled with Seattle s loss to Kansas City moves the Astros tournament ahead of the Mariners for first place in the AL West The meeting was tied - when Carlos Correa singled to start the third Altuve s home run off Jacob deGrom - to the seats in left field put the Astros on top - Altuve has homers and RBIs in his career against the Rangers which are his most of against any squad Pe a connected off deGrom on his home run to the first row in right field to start Houston s fifth and push the lead to - Cristian Javier - 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 pitches in the first Pe a 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 - on an RBI double by Josh Jung Cody Freeman singled with two outs to send Jung home and tie it The Rangers went for with runners in scoring position as they lost their fourth straight meeting Key moment Altuve s home run that put Houston up for good Key stat The win gives the Astros a - advantage in the season series against the Rangers They ve won the series called the Silver Boot every year since Up next 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 AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source