Game 20 lineups: Nats at Braves

The Nationals' season will be 33.3 percent complete at the end of the night, but they'll have played only 17.5 percent of their division games for 2020. Yes, things are moving quickly in this shortened season, but there's a whole lot of opportunity left to win the games that matter most.

It begins tonight with a three-game series in Atlanta against the Braves, who are 13-10 and tied with the 9-6 Marlins for first place in the National League East but still dealing with their fair share of issues. Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Mike Soroka are all on the injured list (Soroka is out for the year after rupturing his Achilles tendon). And the Nats won't be seeing their best starter, Max Fried, this week. It'll be Touki Toussaint (7.27 ERA) tonight, followed by Josh Tomlin (1.59 ERA in eight relief appearances) and Kyle Wright (7.20 ERA).

The Nationals aren't sending out their top starters, either, with Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer having just pitched in Baltimore and Stephen Strasburg now on the IL. So it's up to Aníbal Sánchez, Austin Voth and Erick Fedde to give manager Davey Martinez quality innings and get the games to the impressive back end of the bullpen.

For the third straight day, Howie Kendrick is not in the Nationals lineup. Martinez revealed yesterday Kendrick has been dealing with tight hamstrings. Given his history, that's a concern. Batting third tonight is Juan Soto, the recently crowned NL Player of the Week after he hit five homers with 12 RBIs, scored 12 runs and compiled a 1.610 OPS. Yeah, that's a pretty good week.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at ATLANTA BRAVES
Where: Truist Park
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB Network (outside D.C. market), MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 75 degrees, wind 5 mph in from right field

NATIONALS
SS Trea Turner
RF Adam Eaton
LF Juan Soto
DH Asdrúbal Cabrera
C Kurt Suzuki
2B Luis García
3B Carter Kieboom
1B Eric Thames
CF Victor Robles

RHP Aníbal Sánchez

BRAVES
SS Dansby Swanson
1B Freddie Freeman
C Travis d'Arnaud
DH Marcell Ozuna
RF Nick Markakis
LF Adam Duvall
2B Johan Camargo
3B Austin Riley
CF Ender Inciarte

RHP Touki Toussaint