Aaron Judge’s brilliance adds new layer as Yankees cruise past Nationals

WASHINGTON — Aaron Judge made up a new rule Monday night: If he doesn’t hit a home run, his opponents don’t get to either — at least not on his watch.

The Nationals did the seemingly impossible and kept Judge in the park, so the Yankees center fielder returned the favor by dropping jaws with his glove .

Judge made a leaping grab while running into the left-center field wall that turned a potential game-tying home run into a double play, highlighting the Yankees’ 5-2 win over the Nationals in the series opener at Nationals Park.

While Judge remained at 51 home runs, after homering seven times in his previous six games before Monday, his defensive gem (which robbed former Yankees prospect Andres Chaparro before he doubled off James Wood at first base to end the fourth inning of a 2-0 game) became the latest addition to his likely AL MVP highlight reel.

By the end of the night, Judge also picked up his 1,000th career hit with a single laced the other way.

“To have a guy out there that can climb the walls and catch balls that might be going out, it’s just another plus to a guy who does it all,” said Austin Wells, who added to the strong defensive night overall by picking off a runner at second base before hitting his 10th home run of the year. “It’s really special to watch.”

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The Yankees (78-54) got solo home runs from Gleyber Torres, Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to win for the fifth time in their last six games, maintain the best record in the American League and extend their AL East lead to two games over the idle Orioles.

Anthony Volpe also turned in a three-hit game and scored twice on sacrifice flies from DJ LeMahieu.

Judge’s thievery was part of the strong defensive effort that helped Nestor Cortes limit the Nationals (59-73) to just one run over 6 ²/₃ innings.

Alex Verdugo, who put together a three-hit game, also made a terrific catch while running into the left field wall with a runner on second base in the second inning.

He jammed his right knee into the wall on the play but got checked out by trainers — he said it was just a contusion — and played the rest of the game.

“Somebody said I had room and then I might have heard ‘wall’ at the end,” Verdugo said with a chuckle. “Then I caught it and went to look and it was a face full of wall.”

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Judge one-upped Verdugo two innings later, taking away a home run that would have tied the game.

“Dugie really set the tone earlier by basically running through another wall,” Judge said. “As a teammate, you gotta go out there and match that energy. … To help [Cortes] out there and get one back, have a little double play there, I was pretty pumped up about that one.”

So were his teammates.

“When he jumped and caught it, I was almost taken aback a little bit,” Wells said. “I was like holy … cow. That was crazy.”

Cortes carried a shutout into the seventh inning before Juan Yepez snapped it with a solo home run.

Before then, Cortes had thrown 20 ¹/₃ consecutive scoreless innings, helping himself out in the sixth by striking out three after putting runners on second and third to start the frame.

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“Tremendous,” Cortes said of his defense. “I don’t think I go as long in the game as I did if it wasn’t for those amazing catches that were made out there.”

Torres led off the game with his second home run in as many days before Volpe doubled and scored on LeMahieu’s first sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

After Wells made it 3-0 with his homer to lead off the sixth, Volpe singled up the middle and hustled into second on a bobble, but gave the Yankees a scare when his helmet-less head collided with the knee of shortstop CJ Abrams at second base.

But he also remained in the game after getting checked out by a trainer, then stole third and scored on another sac fly from LeMahieu.

Chisholm made it 5-1 in the eighth by crushing his 21st home run of the season — his eighth in 18 games as a Yankee — off lefty reliever Joe La Sorsa.

And even on a night when Judge did not go deep, he helped the Yankees win with his defense, with his manager calling his catch his “52nd homer of the year.”

“He’s really good at this stuff,” manager Aaron Boone said. “The night they keep him in the ballpark, he takes one back from the other side. Just a little reminder of how many other things he does well.”

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