Yankees’ Aaron Judge singlehandedly turned ugly defeat into tight loss

What was mostly a bust of a night all-around for the Yankees nearly turned ridiculous because of Aaron Judge.

The end result was still a 9-7 loss to the Mets on Tuesday night at Citi Field, but Judge made it a game late by crushing a grand slam in the eighth inning for his 29th home run in the 81st game of the year.

“Every time he steps in that box, you know something good is going to happen,” said Juan Soto, who clubbed his 19th home run in the fifth inning to make it a 6-1 deficit. “He’s an unbelievable player. That’s why I try to be on base for every time he’s hitting because I know something is going to happen.”

Judge said former teammate Harrison Bader gave him a scare by looking like he was going to track down the ball in right-center field, but it kept carrying into the bullpens for a 390-foot shot off Reed Garrett.

Judge also added an RBI double, a walk and a hit by pitch, reaching base four times for the league-leading ninth time this season.

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At the halfway point of the season, even after a quiet first month, Judge is batting .304 with a 1.128 OPS and on pace for 58 home runs.

“It’s insane. It’s absolutely insane,” Pete Alonso said before the game. “Obviously he’s known for his power, but the thing that’s most impressive is his plate discipline and his ability to consistently hit line drives. I think that’s one of the most underrated things about him. Obviously he’s one of the best in the world. But I think his ability controlling the strike zone gets overlooked. He’s a line-drive hitter with tremendous strength. That’s why he’s been not just able to hit a bunch of homers but a good average as well.”

The arrival of J.D. Davis does not mean the end of Ben Rice against left-handed pitchers.

While the Yankees traded for the right-handed hitting Davis to hit against lefties and play some first base, manager Aaron Boone said it will not be a straight platoon between Davis and the left-handed hitting Rice.

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“Because I’ve liked Rice’s at-bats,” Boone said Tuesday before the Yankees fell to the Mets. “I think he’s held his own against lefties here. This is a tough draw for him this week, but I don’t want to run him out there against every lefty in his first two weeks in the big leagues. But I’ve been really pleased with his at-bats.”

Rice, called up last week after veteran first baseman Anthony Rizzo landed on the injured list with an arm fracture, came into Tuesday batting 5-for-17 (.294) with a .675 OPS.

He entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and singled against righty Adam Ottavino.

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Soto fouled a ball off the top of his left foot in the third inning and was limping around in pain before being tended to by Boone and a trainer.

But he remained in the game and said it loosened up throughout the night.

The Yankees went through a stretch earlier this season where they barely faced any lefty starters before facing an onslaught of late.

They came into Tuesday batting .235 with a .699 OPS against lefties, which was right around league average.

“An area we gotta do a little better job of, but feel like we will,” Boone said. “Feel like this is just a moment in time where we’ve had a little bit of a tough week, it’s come against some good left-handed pitchers. I feel like that shouldn’t be the trend or the norm moving forward.

— Additional reporting by Mark W. Sanchez

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