(Photo credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images)

The Arizona Diamondbacks are trying to stay in the National League wild-card race while the Colorado Rockies are trying to avoid a season of infamy.

The NL West rivals will meet on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series in Denver.

Arizona will send left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (4-7, 5.68 ERA) to the mound against Rockies rookie right-hander Bradley Blalock (1-3, 7.89) on Thursday.

The Diamondbacks, who reached the 2023 World Series -- losing to the Texas Rangers -- missed the playoffs in 2024 and have a tough road to get back to the postseason this year. They reside 5 1/2 games behind the New York Mets for the NL's final wild-card spot.

Arizona was a seller at the trade deadline but has won eight of its last 11 games. Three wins came in a sweep of Colorado last weekend, including a comeback victory in the opener.

Rodriguez and Blalock were the starters Saturday in the second game of that series. Rodriguez allowed five runs on six hits in his 5 1/3 innings but was saved from a loss when Arizona rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win 6-5.

It was the fifth time he faced the Rockies in his career, and he is 2-0 with a 5.86 ERA in those outings.

Blalock, who gave up five runs and seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in the Saturday game, has a 6.97 ERA without a decision in two career starts against Arizona.

After winning two of three games against the Texas Rangers, the D-backs will look to make up ground in the wild-card standings. Another sweep of Colorado would put them back in the thick of the race.

'We haven't played consistent baseball all year long,' Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. 'Whatever the reason is, we win three in a row, we lose two in a row. We've got to string together a really nice streak of games where we play like we did (last) weekend. It's too early to say we're climbing and we're changing gears.'

Getting swept at Arizona was part of an eight-game losing streak by the Rockies. Colorado halted that skid with a 3-0 win at St. Louis on Tuesday and followed with a 6-5 victory on Wednesday to capture the season series against the Cardinals for the first time since 2009.

Colorado needs 10 wins in its final 42 games to avoid tying the 2024 Chicago White Sox for the most losses in a season in the modern era. The Rockies are in the midst of a youth movement, with the latest addition being infielder Kyle Karros, who will play his first game at Coors Field in this series.

Karros became the 12th Colorado player to make his major league debut when he played last Friday in Arizona, and he has played in all six games since his debut. Karros scored three of his team's six runs in Wednesday's victory and is batting .333.

'The first weekend was sick, just being up here with these guys, but then to throw some wins in the mix has been super satisfying,' Karros told the Rockies' broadcast after Wednesday's win. 'I'm loving it. It's so fun. The home debut is going to be super cool, and hopefully we can keep the winning streak going.'

--Field Level Media