New York vs Arizona   Results, Match Player Stats & Records

The Yankees (88-64) have already clinched a playoff spot entering the series that begins Friday in Phoenix, but the D-backs face a monumental climb to the postseason.

Arizona (80-73) is four games behind the San Diego Padres (84-69) for the final National League wild-card spot with nine games to play. The Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies (both 85-68) hold the top spots. The D-backs finish the season with a three-game set in San Diego next weekend.

"We are very well aware of what is going on," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. "We know we are in an absolute dogfight and every game matters. We got to start playing our finest baseball. We got nine games left, and anything's possible."

Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole (8-9, 3.67 ERA) will face left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (15-6, 2.62) in the opener.

How big is the series? The D-backs moved Rodriguez, their ace, ahead of Brandon Pfaadt to start Friday.

The D-backs expect a host of former players to return to commemorate their only World Series title, and the team expects sellouts for all three games at Chase Field.

"We know the Yankees are going to come to town, and this place is going to be rocking," Lovullo said. "I'm excited to start that series."

The Yankees enter after a 5-4, 13-inning loss at Minnesota on Wednesday, but much more concerning was the fact that right fielder Aaron Judge left the game for a pinch hitter in the sixth inning with right lower leg tightness.

Judge said he noticed it while playing the field in the first inning, and he seems unlikely to play this weekend. The Yankees are 41-25 with Judge in the lineup, 47-39 without him.

"We're still trying to ramp up, so there's going to be little things like this that come up," Judge said. "Just thought it'd be best, instead of pushing through it like I normally do and it might become a little worse, to get somebody who's ready to go in there. Just trying to do what's best for the team."

Judge was playing his seventh game after missing more than three months with a stress fracture in a right rib.

"Obviously he's a key figure to what we do," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Hopefully we get it treated and knock it out and (he can) be a factor at some point."

The D-backs lost two of three to both the Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins in the first six games of their current nine-game homestand, the club's last homestand of the season. They trailed the Padres by one-half game in the wild-card race before it began.

Arizona's frustration level?

"It's not low," said D-backs right-hander Merrill Kelly, who took the loss in the Marlins' 4-3 victory Wednesday.

Arizona had the potential tying run thrown out attempting to steal second for the final out Wednesday, a day after the D-backs left 15 runners on base and were 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

Cole, who has lost three of his last four starts with a 5.96 ERA, is 3-2 with a 1.96 ERA in six career starts against Arizona, although the most recent one was in 2018. Nolan Arenado is 10-for-22 with three homers against him, and James McCann is 6-for-14 with a homer.

Rodriguez, on pace for a career-low ERA, is 9-6 with a 3.80 ERA in 25 appearances (23 starts) against the Yankees. Judge is 5-for-33 with a homer against him. Cody Bellinger is 2-for-5.

--Field Level Media