3 Chris Taylor CF

Taylor is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Nationals.

Enrique Hernandez will man shortstop and bat eighth against right-hander Stephen Strasburg. Taylor started both games of Saturday's doubleheader, going 1-for-7 with four strikeouts to drop his batting line to .242/.314/.419. He should continue to play close to every day, but it looks like Taylor will be stuck in the bottom half of the batting order until he picks it up at the plate.

Taylor went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in a loss to the Marlins on Wednesday.

Taylor's early-season struggles saw him demoted to sixth in the order against righties May 11 (still leading off against southpaws). The super-utility man has responded well with a .333/.400/.500 triple-slash in the five games since his downgrade in the lineup. Taylor's overall .240/.309/.417 slash line still pales in comparison to last year's breakout numbers, but this could be the spark that gets his season back on track.

Taylor was moved down to third in the order Friday against the Reds, Ken Gurnick of MLB.com reports.

He has started 35 of 37 games from the leadoff spot, but is hitting just .229/.299/.408, which is good enough to play every day in this decimated Dodgers lineup, but not good enough to remain atop the order. Chase Utley is leading off against righty Matt Harvey.

Taylor went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks, an RBI, his second stolen base and a run scored in Wednesday's win over Arizona.

Taylor's batting average has come down to earth (.235) as expected after the free-swinger's .288 average last year was buoyed by a .361 BABIP. That said, the 27-year-old has still been a strong contributor in terms in counting stats, providing 26 runs, five homers, 14 RBI and a pair of steals through 36 games. Taylor's .306 on-base percentage is only bested by Dodger regulars who bat in the heart of the order (Yasmani Grandal, Cody Bellinger and Matt Kemp), so his status as the club's leadoff hitter should remain in tact.

Taylor went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, a walk and two runs as the Dodgers topped the Padres 4-0 on Friday.

Taylor helped provide the offense as the Dodgers pitchers no-hit San Diego, launching his fifth homer of the season in the second inning off Joey Lucchesi. He's still got an underwhelming .232/.282/.428 slash line coming off his breakout campaign last year but he's been hitting better lately, so it's possible that he was just off to a slow start and he'll continue to heat up as he logs more at-bats.