The Nationals will look to bounce back this evening against the Los Angeles Dodgers following Friday’s tough loss. Jake Irvin and Tyler Glasnow will square off in what has the potential to be an intense showdown as Washington looks to get back to .500 with a win tonight.

Washington actually jumped out first against the defending champs, but the pitching collapse started as soon as the Dodgers got traffic in the third. Miles Mikolas cruised through two scoreless innings, then allowed an infield single to Teoscar Hernández and a walk to Andy Pages before Shohei Ohtani tied it with a three-run homer. Two batters later, after a Kyle Tucker single, Mookie Betts homered to make it 5-3, and Los Angeles never gave the lead back. Pages added a two-run homer in the fourth, then in the fifth Betts singled, Freddie Freeman hit a two-run shot, Teoscar doubled home another run, and after Mikolas exited, Tucker beat out a weak single to plate one more. By the time the dust settled, Mikolas had allowed a franchise-record 11 runs in 4 1/3 innings, and the Dodgers finished with 13 runs on 16 hits, including five homers.

At the plate, the Nationals actually struck first and had some life early. James Wood opened the bottom of the first with a double, Brady House walked, and CJ Abrams crushed a three-run homer to right for a 3-0 lead. After the Dodgers’ five-run third, Washington answered with a run of its own when Luis García Jr. singled, Daylen Lile reached on a fielder’s choice and moved up on a wild pitch, and Abrams singled home Lile to make it 5-4. The offense then went quiet for several innings against Emmet Sheehan before finally getting two back in the eighth: Nasim Nuñez and Jorbit Vivas got on, Keibert Ruiz doubled in one, and Jacob Young brought home another with a groundout. Abrams finished with four RBIs, and every Nationals starter recorded at least one hit, but the early 3-0 edge disappeared too fast for the offense to fully recover.

On Deck…

The series will wrap up on Sunday at 1:05 as Roki Sasaki faces Foster Griffin, who gave the Nationals a strong outing to open their set in Philadelphia as he made his return to the major leagues.

In the hole…

The St. Louis Cardinals will come to town for a three-game set starting Monday, as Andre Pallante faces off against Zack Littell (possibly with an opener again) at 6:45.