Aaron Judge walks four times, then strikes out vs Mets in Yankees loss

NEW YORK – Aaron Judge was almost completely avoided by the Mets, determined not to let the Yankees’ game-breaker do his thing Tuesday night.

It turned out to be a winning strategy.

Maybe, it’ll finally begin a league-wide trend.

Judge was walked during his first four plate appearances, only one (officially) intentional, in a 3-2 Mets win at Yankee Stadium.

When they finally did pitch to Judge, with Juan Soto (0-for-4, walk) on first base and one out in the ninth, Judge looked at a called third strike from lefty Jake Diekman.

“It’s part of it, it’s a team game,” Judge said of the free passes. “Even if I go 4-for-4 today, we still might not win. It’s about if I get a pitch to hit, I’ve got to do some damage on it.”

With Mets closer Edwin Diaz unavailable due to his recent workload, the veteran Diekman got ahead with a called strike fastball, and eventually slipped a 2-2 fastball past Judge for the critical second out.

“After four straight balls to Soto, (take) a pitch….and from there go to work,” Judge said of his thought process against Diekman. “Then, he paints one on the (inside) corner there, 2-2.

“It’s a tough one but I’ve got to be ready for it.”

Mets avoid Aaron Judge at nearly every turn

As the majority portion of the 47,453 fans grew more agitated with each wide pitch to Judge, the Mets (52-48) were in the process of winning a third straight game against the Yanks (60-43).

At least, Gerrit Cole will be on the mound Wednesday, trying to prevent a 4-0 Subway Series sweep, after Luis Gil – armed with the slider taught to him by Luis Severino – lasted just five innings, but yielded just one run.

It was Severino who provided his own public jab at his former team last week, suggesting only Juan Soto and Judge are a pitcher’s concern, and he can walk those guys.

Judge saw just two strikes in his first three plate appearances before Mets manager (and recent former Yankees bench coach) Carlos Mendoza passed the Yankees’ captain in the seventh inning – putting the go-ahead run on base.

At the time, the Yanks trailed by a run with one out and a runner on second base.

Rookie pinch-hitter Ben Rice followed with a deep fly out to the left-center field warning track before Anthony Volpe (2-for-4) grounded out.

Just before the Subway Series II opener, a harsh, one-line dig at the Yankees came from Jose Canseco’s Twitter/X account: “One of the worst lineups I’ve ever seen.’’

The controversial former big-league slugger’s account had re-tweeted the Yankees’ batting order, which still had Soto and Judge in it – bookended by Jahmai Jones at leadoff and JD Davis at cleanup.

“I think they’re just trying to be more careful,” said Judge diplomatically. “You’ve just got to pass the baton to the next guy.”

After his first three walks Tuesday, that next guy was Davis, who struck out twice and grounded into a double play.

“Yeah, we’ve seen some teams take that approach,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, though this was the most obvious recent example of a team avoiding Judge.

“We’ve just got to get the middle of our order more settled, and hopefully that will come back to bite teams when they (avoid Judge).”

Punchless Yankees’ lineup vs. lefty starter

Both Jones and Davis would later exit for pinch-hitters, and the Yanks can only hope they’re a day closer to getting Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring) and Jasson Dominguez (oblique) back in their lineup.

Alex Verdugo (in a 1-for-22 slide), rookie catcher Carlos Narvaez (making his first career start) and DJ LeMahieu (batting .181 in 40 games) completed Tuesday’s order.

This was the Yankees’ right-handed heavy lineup against Mets’ lefty starter Jose Quintana, who limited the Yanks to one run – a Gleyber Torres homer – across five innings.

Jones was batting leadoff for the first time this year, having somehow lasted on the Yankees’ active roster into late July with just 39 at-bats.

Davis hadn’t batted since July 4, owing to a stomach flu, a stretch of almost exclusively facing right-handed starters, and his 1-for-13 since signing as a midseason free agent.

Once the lefty Quintana was out of the game, Verdugo delivered an RBI double, cutting the lead to 3-2, but was stranded by pinch-hitter Austin Wells and LeMahieu.

But Verdugo oddly tried to bunt his way on base in the fourth, with the Yanks ahead 1-0, runners at first and second with none out and Narvaez – with just two career MLB at-bats – on deck.

Verdugo got credit for a sacrifice, but Narvaez struck out and LeMahieu flied out.

“It was kind of an aggressive (play),” said Boone, with first baseman Pete Alonso playing back.

That doesn’t make it the right play, with a raw rookie on deck. But these are the Yankees now, searching for anything, with a lackluster lineup behind Soto and Judge, and six shopping days until the trade deadline.