Game 75 lineups: Nats at Marlins (Fedde to IL)

Forty-eight hours ago, the Nationals were feeling as good about themselves as they had in a while. Winners of five straight and 10 of 11, they had reached the .500 mark for the first time since May 2. What's happened since then? They've lost two in a row to the Marlins, fallen back into their offensive funk and have now seen their second-most reliable starting pitcher get hurt.

Erick Fedde was placed on the 10-day injured list this morning with an oblique strain, an unexpected development to say the least. We'll be hearing more from manager Davey Martinez shortly, but you'd think this means Fedde needs to miss more than one start. He was scheduled to pitch Monday night against the Mets, but now you'd think that start will go to Paolo Espino or Jefry Rodriguez. Reliever Andres Machado, who spent one day on the big league roster several weeks ago but did not pitch, was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Fedde's roster spot for now.

As for today's series finale in Miami, there is good news: Max Scherzer is on the mound. The Nationals need a big-time start from their ace, who was effective but not efficient in his return from a groin strain Tuesday night in Philadelphia. He was exceptionally effective and efficient the last time he faced the Marlins, tossing a 106-pitch complete game, striking out nine without walking anybody.

Scherzer is opposed today by Sandy Alcantara, who hasn't faced the Nationals yet this season but beat them last year with one run allowed in six innings. The right-hander is a workhorse, leading the league with 101 1/3 innings in 16 starts, which works out to an average of 6 1/3 per outing.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at MIAMI MARLINS
Where: loanDepot Park
Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Indoors

NATIONALS
LF Kyle Schwarber
SS Trea Turner
RF Juan Soto
1B Josh Bell
2B Josh Harrison
3B Starlin Castro
C Alex Avila
RHP Max Scherzer
CF Victor Robles

MARLINS
2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.
CF Starling Marte
1B Jesús Aguilar
RF Garrett Cooper
SS Miguel Rojas
LF Jesús Sánchez
C Jorge Alfaro
3B Jon Berti
RHP Sandy Alcantara