Tuesday brought us an overstuffed MLB slate of 16 games thanks to a doubleheader in Arlington. Most notably, the schedule included games with playoff implications in Pittsburgh, Queens, St. Pete, Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, and Oakland. Here is everything you need to know about Tuesday's MLB action. 

Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (Try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.

Who wins every MLB game? And what underdogs can give you a huge victory tonight? Visit SportsLine now to see the exact score of every MLB game, plus get full player stat projections, all from the model that simulates every game 10,000 times.

Baseball scores for Tuesday, Aug. 20

Cardinals win sixth straight over Brewers

For the first few innings, Tuesday night's Cardinals vs. Brewers game at Busch Stadium looked like it would be another close game. St. Louis flirted with a combined no-hitter Monday, and similar tension was building Tuesday.

All that tension went away in the sixth and seventh innings, when the Cardinals broke the game open against the Milwaukee bullpen. Dexter Fowler plopped a go-ahead three-run double into left field in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals were off.

Not quite sure what Ryan Braun was doing there, but that ball has to be caught, ideally by the outfielder who is running in on the ball and has the easier play. The Cardinals scored four runs in the sixth and another four in the seventh, and that was that.

St. Louis has won their last six games against the Brewers and they are a half-game up on the Cubs in the NL Central. The Brewers are now four games back in the division and 3 1/2 games back of the second wild-card spot. Milwaukee has lost three straight games and six of their last eight games.

Mets open key homestand with a win

No team in baseball has more home games remaining than the Mets. Including Tuesday night, 26 of their final 38 games will be played at Citi Field. Tuesday the Mets opened a nine-game homestand that will bring the Indians, Braves, and Cubs to New York. Nine games against postseason contenders.

The Mets started this key homestand with a win Tuesday night. Indians left fielder Oscar Mercado dropped a routine fly ball in the sixth inning, setting up Michael Conforto for the go-ahead two-run home run against Shane Bieber. New York later broke the game open against Cleveland's bullpen.

At 25-10, the Mets have the best record in baseball since the All-Star break, and they're not just beating bad teams anymore. Tuesday's win allowed them to keep pace with the Cubs and stay two games behind the second wild-card spot. Next week's series against the Cubs looks like it'll be awfully important. Those two clubs are pretty much neck-and-neck in the wild-card race.

As for the Indians, they've suddenly lost five of their last seven games. They are three games behind the Twins in the AL Central.

Acuna plunked by Marlins again

There could be some fireworks between the Braves and Marlins this week. The two NL East rivals are playing their final series of the season and, Tuesday night, Elieser Hernandez's first pitch was planted in Ronald Acuna's ribs. Both teams were warned and Braves manager Brian Snitker was ejected.

As I'm sure you remember, Marlins righty Jose Urena drilled Acuna with his first pitch in a game last year, when Acuna was in the middle of a home run binge. Urena was suspended six games for the obvious intent. The Braves had to wait until this season to get revenge against him.

Following the Acuna beaning, the first place Braves went on to beat the last place Marlins, with Acuna chipping in a double. I get that you can't let another team play target practice with your young franchise player, but Atlanta has nothing to gain and everything to lose in a prolonged beanball war with the Marlins. We'll see what happens the rest of the series.

Trout ties Bellinger for MLB home run lead

As of the start of Tuesday's action, Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers led all of MLB with 42 home runs, and Mike Trout of the Angels was close on his trail with 41. In Arlington, Trout quickly evened the score: 

That's 42, and in addition to tying Bellinger that's also a new career high for Trout. On top of that, the home run gives Trout 2,500 total bases for his career. On the season, Trout's now batting .299/.444/.667 with 99 walks and 10 stolen bases in addition to plus defense in center field. As our own Matt Snyder has argued, Trout's the obvious AL MVP and the best player in all of baseball.

By the way, the first game of this doubleheader also occasions our photo of the day: 

Yep, hot Tuesday day game between two teams with losing records and the kiddos back in school adds up to paltry attendance. For the lucky few that are there, though, you get some Mike Trout to go with the zen-like calm of a near-empty ballpark. That's good living.

Pirates rally following Archer's injury

Things have not been going well for the Pirates lately. Not at all. They went into Tuesday's game 7-28 since the All-Star break, then, in the second inning against the Nationals, Chris Archer walked off the mound with the trainer. The Pirates, who are already short on pitching, later announced he has a shoulder issue.

Rather than wilt, the bullpen stepped up following Archer's exit. Clay Holmes (3 2/3 innings), Michael Feliz (1 1/3 innings), and Richard Rodriguez (1 2/3 innings) held the red-hot Nationals to one run in 6 2/3 innings. That kept the Pirates in the game, then, in the eighth inning, Starling Marte socked a go-ahead three-run homer against former Pirate Daniel Hudson.

Stephen Strasburg was marvelous Tuesday (seven shutout innings), but, once again, Washington's bullpen made a mess of things. With Sean Doolittle and Roenis Elias on the injured list, and Hunter Strickland taking a bar to the face in the weight room prior to the game, manager Dave Martinez's relief corps is a little shorthanded, and it cost the Nationals on Tuesday.

Highlight of the Day: Hechavarria's game-ender

The Braves beat the Marlins with relative ease Tuesday night, though that doesn't make Adeiny Hechavarria's game-ending grab any less impressive. He took a base hit away from Neil Walker with this backhand stab:

Very nice. Say what you want about the shift, but it sure makes for some uniquely great defensive plays.

Stat of the Day: Multi-homer game streak hits 37 days

For the 37th consecutive day, somewhere in the league a player hit (at least) two home runs in a game. The players: Freddie Freeman, Anthony Rizzo, and Bo Bichette. They all launched two homers Tuesday.

Last year's longest two-homer game streak was a mere 20 days. I'm not sure where this year's 37-day (and counting) streak ranks historically, but I reckon it is among the longest ever, if not the longest ever. The Year of a Home Run continues unabated. 

Quick hits

  • Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco pitched one inning during a rehab appearance for Double-A Akron on Monday night. That marks his first game action since being diagnosed with leukemia earlier this season. Read more here. 
  • Former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Luis Castillo have been implicated in a Dominican money laundering and drug trafficking scheme. Read more here.
  • Indians RHP Corey Kluber, who's on the IL with a fractured forearm, has been shut down from throwing for at least two weeks because of an oblique strain.
  • A source tells Andy Martino that Mets RHP Robert Gsellman has a partially torn lat, which would mean he's likely to miss the remainder of the season. 
  • The Mariners have placed OF Domingo Santana on the 10-day IL with elbow inflammation. 
  • The Rangers have placed OF Nomar Mazara on the 10-day IL with an oblique strain.
  • According to multiple reports, the Yankees will sign RHP Trevor Rosenthal to a minor-league contract.
  • The Cardinals have recalled OF Harrison Bader from Triple-A.