It's a Monday in the middle of August, which means playoff races are heating up across the land. Unfortunately, there were only nine games scheduled for Monday, only one of which featured two postseason contenders. Here is everything you need to know about Monday'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.

Baseball scores for Monday, August 19

Cardinals flirt with no-hitter against Brewers

The Cardinals and Brewers opened an important three-game series at Busch Stadium on Monday night. The two clubs are battling for NL Central supremacy along with the Cubs.

The Cardinals started the series in spectacular fashion: Dakota Hudson and reliever Giovanny Gallegos took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Yasmani Grandal broke it up with a clean double down the right field line with two outs. St. Louis settled for a one-hitter. Hudson threw 111 pitches in 6 2/3 innings before manager Mike Shildt went to the bullpen.

Dakota Hudson
SP
August 19 vs. Brewers
IP6 2/3
H0
R0
BB4
K7

Hudson, a sinkerballer, recorded nine outs on the ground and only four in the air. His 77.4 mph average exit velocity allowed was well below the MLB average (88.2 mph) and his season average (89.4 mph). Also, he held lefty batters to 0 for 14 on the night. Going into the game, lefties had hit .307/.400/.531 against Hudson this year.

The Cardinals scored two runs in the fifth inning on a Kolten Wong fielder's choice and a Dexter Fowler single, then Paul DeJong chipped in a solo homer in the sixth. The Brewers did load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth inning, but Andrew Miller got Mike Moustakas to ground out to second base to end the threat.

Monday's win was the eighth in the last 10 games for St. Louis. The Cardinals move a half-game up on the idle Cubs for first place in the NL Central. The Brewers, meanwhile, have lost five of their last seven games. They are three games back in the division and 2 1/2 games back of the second wild-card spot.

Nationals keep rolling with blowout win over Pirates

Make it seven wins in the last eight games for the Nationals. They bludgeoned Pirates starter Trevor Williams on Monday night, tagging him for eight runs (six earned) in two innings. Adam Eaton, Matt Adams and Trea Turner all took Williams deep.

On the other side, righty Joe Ross held the Pirates scoreless in 3 1/3 innings. He exited after taking a Josh Bell comebacker to the leg. Max Scherzer is expected to rejoin the rotation later this week, so in that sense the Nationals will be fine, but losing Ross for any length of time robs the club of depth. That always hurts.

Anyway, Monday's win improved Washington to 68-56 on the season -- the Nats are 49-25 since May 24, tied for the best winning percentage in baseball -- and strengthened their grip on the top wild-card spot. That said, the Nationals are only two games up on the second wild-card spot and 4 1/2 games up on a postseason spot in general. They're not exactly locked in to October yet.

As for the Pirates, gosh, they are in a brutal stretch right now. Monday's loss was their 28th in 35 games since the All-Star break. Only the Marlins have a worse record in the National League than the Pirates right now.

Murphy homers twice, McKay struggles again for Rays

Left-hander Brendan McKay, the No. 4 pick in the 2017 draft, started his MLB career having allowed three runs total in his first three starts. MLB.com ranks McKay has the 15th best prospect in baseball and says he has "plus command and knows how to sequence his pitches," and we saw it in those first three starts.

The following four starts did not go well, however. McKay allowed 16 runs in 17 2/3 innings in those four starts, and opponents hit .350/.409/.675 against him. McKay's struggles continued Monday night against the Mariners. He was charged with seven runs (three earned) in two innings while walking three and striking out only one. Tom Murphy and Austin Nola took him deep.

The Rays are currently without starters Tyler Glasnow (elbow), Yonny Chirinos (finger) and reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell (elbow), and while they can piece things together with openers, McKay had an opportunity to seize a rotation spot. Instead, he pitched himself back to the minors. He was sent down following Monday's game.

Murphy, meanwhile, added a second home run later in the game. The 28-year-old backstop is now 23 for 63 (.365) with seven home runs in his last 18 games, and five of the seven home runs have come in his last three games. Not much has gone right for the Mariners this year, but in Murphy and Omar Narvaez, they've found a nice little catching tandem.

Highlight of the Night: Squirrel invades Twins' dugout

Rogue rodent in Minnesota! A squirrel ran across the field and climbed into the Twins dugout at Target Field on Monday night. It sent Twins players scattering, as you could imagine. To the action footage:

Rally squirrel? Well, no, not really. Minnesota did make some noise in the ninth inning Monday -- it brought the tying run to the plate, in fact -- but ultimately dropped the series opener to the White Sox and saw its AL Central lead shrink to two games over the Indians. Bad-luck squirrel is more like it.

No word on the fate of the squirrel. Presumably it either escaped the dugout and went on its merry way or was captured and released outside the ballpark.

Stat of the Day: Nats' offense remains red-hot

High-scoring games have become the norm for the Nationals. Monday's blowout win gives them 43 runs in their last three games, setting a franchise record. That includes the Expos years. Also, the Nationals have scored 62 runs in their last five games. That's the most runs scored in a five-game span since the Yankees scored 63 back in 2007.

Believe it or not, Anthony Rendon has driven in only three of those 43 runs in the team's last three games. It's everyone else who has been terrorizing pitchers. Once Rendon starts cashing in a few more runs, forget it. Washington is going to put up some seriously crooked numbers.

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