The MLB schedule for Tuesday is stuffed with 15 night games, so let's jump right in ... 

Tuesday's scores

Trout and Harper trade homers on the West Coast

For only the fourth time in the history of the universe, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper are opponents during a regular season game Tuesday night. The Nationals are out in Anaheim for an interleague game with the Halos.

Harper and Trout have met on only one other occasion, not counting All-Star Games. The Angels visited the Nationals for a three-game series back in April 2014, winning two of three on the road. Here's how each young superstar performed in that series:

  • Mike Trout: 5 for 14 (.357), 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
  • Bryce Harper: 1 for 11 (.091), 1 BB, 3 K

Trout out-hit Harper in the three games and the Angels won the series. He went on to win his first MVP later that season. Harper won his first (and so far only) MVP the next season. 

Harper started Tuesday night's opener with a solo home right over Trout's head in left-center field. Check it out:

That's already four home runs in five game since the All-Star break for Harper.

A few innings later Trout answered Harper's blast with a solo home run of his own. Here's the video:

"What'd you do Tuesday night?" "Oh nothing, I just watched the two best baseball players on the planet trade home runs."

And because that wasn't enough, Harper led off the eighth inning with a triple. He scored on Ryan Zimmerman's single to give the Nationals a 3-2 lead.

What a fun game featuring two of the game's top talents.

Unstoppable Dodgers win 10th straight

Another day, another Dodgers win. This one wasn't a laugher, however. Cody Bellinger drove in a run with a single in the first inning and ... that's it. The final score was 1-0.

Clayton Kershaw made it stand up against the White Sox.

The Dodgers have now won 10 straight games and 30 of their last 34 games -- 30 of their last 34! -- to give them baseball's best record at 65-29.

The Dodgers are a great regular season team. We know that already. They're still working to get over the hump in the postseason. They don't want to the high point of the Kershaw era to be an NLCS loss.

Marte returns to Pirates

Starling Marte has rejoined the Pirates. Marte's 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension ended Tuesday night and he was back in the lineup in the leadoff spot.

How did the hometown fans at PNC Park greet him? With cheers, mostly.

Marte went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in his first game back from the suspension. He also got picked off second. That's never good.

More important than Marte's return was the game itself, which the Pirates won to inch even closer to the first-place Brewers. The Pirates have won the first two games of this four-game series against Milwaukee to get to within five games of first place. The NL Central race is going to be a lot of fun.

Wacha twirls shutout

Another team inching closer in the NL Central race? The Cardinals. They won for the fifth time in their last seven games Tuesday night to get to within 4 1/2 games of the Brewers. Michael Wacha put the team on his back and tossed a three-hit shutout against the Mets.

Wacha has now allowed no more than two earned runs in each of his last five starts. He's getting hot at just the right time for St. Louis.

Stanton continues home run rampage

Worried the Home Run Derby messed up Giancarlo Stanton? Don't be. The big man crushed his third home run in his last six plate appearances in the first inning of Tuesday's game against the Phillies.

It was, in classic Stanton fashion, a moonshot:

Stanton leads the NL with 29 home runs. He's never hit more than 37 in a season -- he hit 37 in 145 games in 2014 before taking that pitch to the face -- but he has a very real shot to do that this year. Keep in mind Stanton is averaging 42 home runs per 162 games in his career.

Shaw visits the river in Pittsburgh

Has there been a more lopsided trade in baseball this year than the Brewers getting Travis Shaw (and more!) from the Red Sox for Tyler Thornburg? What about over the last five years? I don't think so.

Shaw crushed his 21st home run of the season Tuesday night, a three-run shot that made it all the way to the Allegheny River outside PNC Park. It did hit the sidewalk outside the ballpark first, but I don't care, I'm counting it as a river shot. Those don't come along often.

Here is Shaw's blast:

Thornburg hasn't thrown a pitch this season due to a shoulder injury. Shaw is hitting .293/.361/.564. Goodness.

Quick hits