NEW YORK — As the Phillies took batting practice Friday, the two highest-ranking members of the front office huddled a safe distance behind the cage on the grass alongside the interlocking “NY.”

They could’ve been talking about … well, anything.

But six days before the trade deadline, Dave Dombrowski and Preston Mattingly have pressing roster matters to go over, all of which were on full display over the next few hours in the Phillies’ 12-5 slugfest against the Yankees.

Start here: J.T. Realmuto, in the midst of a revival at the plate and continuing his stellar work behind it, provided the winning margin with a go-ahead three-run homer against reliever Luke Weaver in a four-run seventh inning.

It came two innings after Kyle Schwarber tied the game and one inning before Schwarber stretched a one-run lead with a pair of two-run missiles. The first touched down in the right-center field bullpen. The second cleared the short right-field porch … and then some.

So, Realmuto and Schwarber accounted for three homers and seven RBIs in a tag-team performance that can’t be taken for granted because, lest anyone forget, they are both poised to be free agents after the season.

It was yet another reminder — in the neon lights that flash a few miles away in Times Square — that the time for this Phillies core to win a World Series is right now.

But it’s also imperative that help is on the way. Because after Realmuto’s tiebreaking homer, manager Rob Thomson turned over a 6-3 lead to Jordan Romano in the seventh inning. And well, what do you think happened?

Romano promptly gave up a leadoff homer to Anthony Volpe and a pinch-hit bloop single to Ben Rice before balking Rice into scoring position. Two batters later, the embattled reliever allowed a sacrifice fly to Aaron Judge that cut the margin to 6-5.

It was sweltering enough in the South Bronx that the Phillies didn’t need reasons to get sweatier. They didn’t, but only by the grace of Schwarber’s second homer in the eighth inning and a two-run double from Bryson Stott in a four-run top of the ninth.

And so, the hunt for bullpen help will surely persist through the trade deadline at 6 p.m. Thursday. Dombrowski and Mattingly will have plenty more conversations before then.

Before the Phillies busted it open like a piñata with 10 runs in the last three innings, Taijuan Walker and Yankees rookie starter Will Warren were locked in a tight duel.

Walker, who reentered the starting rotation before the All-Star break, gave up a season-high three homers, including Giancarlo Stanton’s two-out go-ahead shot in the sixth inning. But all three were solos, enabling Walker to survive.

Cody Bellinger took Walker deep on a first-pitch curveball in the first inning. Austin Wells hit a cutter out right field in the second.

Warren blanked the Phillies until the fifth inning, when Turner led off with a single and Schwarber banged his 1,000th career hit — a homer, of course — to right-center field.

Stanton restored the Yankees’ lead by crushing a fastball, and Walker never looked to see it land. Instead, he took a few steps toward home plate, asked for a new ball, and snatched it barehanded with a snap of his right wrist.

Turner and Schwarber singled to start a rally in the seventh. With runners on second and third, Nick Castellanos hit a chopper to Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who threw wide of home plate, enabling Turner to score the tying run.

Up stepped Realmuto, who entered on a 27-for-74 (.365) roll in his last 18 games. The key to his resurgence?

“Just his target,” Thomson said. “He’s right-center-field-oriented. When he does that, he’s a lot better.”

This time, there wasn’t any need. Realmuto turned on a change-up from Weaver and hit it out to left field, another sign that Realmuto is feeling better at the plate.

The Phillies must do whatever it takes to ride Realmuto and Schwarber as far as they can.

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