Game 120 lineups: Nats at Braves (Cole up, Goodwin down)

ATLANTA - Hello from Turner Field, which is in full countdown mode right now. There are only 22 Braves games left to be played in this ballpark. The bad news: The Nationals will be here for seven of those games, with a four-game series this weekend and then another three-game set next month before they shut down the place for good and move to a new park in the northwest Atlanta suburbs.

The Nats come here reeling a bit from a taxing three days at Coors Field in which the bullpen was forced to throw 16 1/3 total innings. With that in mind, they have added a fresh arm to their relief corps: Right-hander A.J. Cole has been promoted from Triple-A Syracuse. Cole, who was slated to start for the Chiefs tonight, figures to be here in case rookie Reynaldo Lopez gets knocked out early.

Outfielder Brian Goodwin has been optioned back to Syracuse to make room for Cole. This is pure speculation, but there's some logic to it: You have to think Cole is just going to be here for one or two days at most and then will be sent back down, with Ryan Zimmerman set to return from the disabled list.

First things first, though. The Nationals look to win tonight's series opener, hoping both that Lopez can duplicate his strong start last weekend against these same Braves (seven innings of one-run ball) and that they can duplicate the damage they inflicted upon right-hander Rob Whalen (six runs in five innings).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Turner Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, XM 184/869, MLB.com
Weather: Chance of storms early, 83 degrees, wind 8 mph out to right field

NATIONALS (70-49)
CF Trea Turner
LF Jayson Werth
2B Daniel Murphy
RF Bryce Harper
3B Anthony Rendon
1B Clint Robinson
SS Danny Espinosa
C Pedro Severino
RHP Reynaldo Lopez

BRAVES (44-76)
CF Ender Inciarte
3B Adonis Garcia
1B Freddie Freeman
LF Matt Kemp
RF Nick Markakis
C Tyler Flowers
2B Jace Peterson
SS Dansby Swanson
RHP Rob Whalen