Game 39 lineups: Nats at Dodgers

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals and Dodgers are now all even at one game apiece in their four-game set at Dodger Stadium.

The Nats won the opener 6-0 and the Dodgers won 5-3 on Friday night.

The Nationals did some good things Friday but ultimately were unable to solve Kenta Maeda. They ended up with only four hits. The defense made some plays with Brian Dozier and Anthony Rendon shining, but also had a misstep when Adam Eaton could not make a play in right field and the ball got behind him.

Today is the day the Nats finally get their phenom slugger Juan Soto back in the lineup. He has been out since May 1 with back spasms. The Nationals have officially reinstated Soto from the 10-day injured list and optioned infielder Jake Noll to Triple-A Fresno.

Catcher Kurt Suzuki says the return of offensive starters will help get the Nats back on track sooner than later.

"Doze was pretty incredible," Suzuki said. "Tony made that diving play. Everybody is making plays. Starting to play some good baseball and baseball we know we can play. It's just a matter of everything clicking at the right time. Once we get hot and I know it's kind of repetitive now, everybody is saying 'once we get hot', but we feel like players are going to start coming back. Things will start going our way.

"We hit some balls hard (Friday night) and they made some great plays against us. Eaton hit that ball down the line that was just foul. Tony smoked that ball. (Max) Muncy made a great play. Shoot, anyone of those balls can change the whole game right there. It will come."

Soto slashed .292/.406/.517 with 22 homers and 70 RBIs in his rookie campaign. This season he has seen very few hittable fastballs and most off-speed and junk as pitchers adjust to him, hitting .248 with six homers and 22 RBIs. He has struck out 32 times in 28 games. The Nats need Soto to get back to his lethal form to start building up some wins.

Max Scherzer (1-4, 3.78 ERA) has pitched well against the Dodgers since joining the Nats, going 2-1 with a 1.38 ERA in four starts. Scherzer has 72 strikeouts in 52 1/3 innings. Overall he is 4-4 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 games against the Dodgers.

Scherzer is opposed by right-hander Walker Buehler (4-0, 4.95) who his making his debut start versus the Nats.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Where: Dodger Stadium
Gametime: 9:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 1500AM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 68 degrees, 15 percent chance of precipitation, winds from right field toward third base at 8 mph

NATIONALS (15-23)
RF Adam Eaton
CF Victor Robles
LF Juan Soto
3B Anthony Rendon
1B Gerardo Parra
2B Brian Dozier
C Yan Gomes
SS Wilmer Difo
RHP Max Scherzer

DODGERS (26-15)
LF Joc Pederson
1B Max Muncy
3B Justin Turner
RF Cody Bellinger
SS Corey Seager
CF Alex Verdugo
2B Kiké Hernández
C Austin Barnes
RHP Walker Buehler