Diamondbacks & Yankees Will Try to Play Through Bad Weather

NOTE: STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED DUE TO LINEUP CHANGE. KETEL MARTE WAS A LATE SCRATCH DUE TO ILLNESS. JORDAN LAWLAR WILL PLAY SS, GERALDO PERDOMO MOVES TO 2B

With Saturday's game between the Diamondbacks and Yankees already postponed until Monday due to Tropical Storm Ophelia, the teams will try to pay through continuing inclement weather today if at all possible. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 P.M. EST, 10:35 in Arizona but as of this writing the Yankees have announced that they expect a short delay to the start of the game.

As reported by Jake Oliver yesterday, Monday's game against the White Sox has been rescheduled for Thursday at 1:10 P.M. to allow for the Yankees and D-backs to play the makeup game Monday in New York.

Torey Lovullo said the team came to the stadium yesterday to get their workouts in and the players are ready to go. "Playing today is a super important day for us. It's Zac's [Gallen] day today. He's on normal rest. We're fortunate that we're going to play this baseball game."

As of right now Merrill Kelly is scheduled to pitch tomorrow, and then Gallen and Kelly line up to pitch on Friday and Saturday against Houston. That would then put them in line to pitch in games two and three of a Wild Card series.

Lovullo was advised that today's game and field conditions would be soggy and that they should be patient. There is likely to be times of showers and drizzles but nothing that would officially knock them out. If today's game were to be rained out and they're forced to try to play a double header tomorrow then it would likely force Kelly out of the Wild Card series. The other concern is making sure once they start the game they can get through it without the game getting washed out and wasting Gallen's start. All things considered, expect both teams and MLB to push through whatever they have to in order to get this game in.

The 81-73 Diamondbacks hold a half game lead over the 81-74 Cubs for the 2nd Wild Card spot. Arizona holds the tie breaker over Chicago. The Marlins are right behind, at 80-75, just 1.5 games back of the D-backs. The Marlins hold the tie breaker over the D-backs so should the two team tie at the end of the season the Marlins then have the advantage. Every game is critical the rest of the way.

Pitching Matchup

Zac Gallen has struggled in four of his last five outings, posting a 6.37 ERA in 30 IP and going 2-3. His ERA has risen from 3.11 to 3.60 effectively taking him out of the Cy Young race. But he's focused on putting his team in a position to win and getting to the playoffs. A good outing today goes a long way towards that goal.

Carlos Rodon has been limited to just 12 starts this year due to hamstring and arm injury. When he has pitched he's not been very effective. Through his first 10 starts he had a 6.60 ERA. He's been much better over his last two however, throwing 11.2 innings and giving up four runs while walking just four and striking out a whopping 19. If he is back to his dominant self it could be a tough day out there for the D-backs hitters.

Lineups

Christian Walker and Evan Longoria each have a homer against Rodon, but other than that there hasn't been a lot of success for the D-backs hitters against the veteran lefty. Stats from Baseball-Reference

Aaron Judge hit three homers and a double, driving in six runs on Friday night. Look for the D-backs to have learned their lesson and pitch around him with men on base.