Aaron Judge’s brilliance adds new layer as Yankees beat Nationals

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

The Nationals did the 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 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 last six games before Monday, his defensive gem (which robbed former Yankees prospect Andres Chaparro and doubled off James Wood at first base to end the fourth inning) 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. 

The Yankees (78-54) got solo home runs from Gleyber Torres, Austin 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 one of three plays 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 — and shook off jamming his right knee on the play — while Wells picked off a runner at second base to help Cortes get out of another jam. 

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, an important turnaround for the left-hander as the Yankees head down the stretch.

He helped himself out in the sixth inning by striking out three after putting runners on second and third to start the frame. 

Torres led off the game with his second home run in as many days, this one off left-hander Mitchell Parker to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

After a brutal start to the season, Torres has found his footing over the last two months, which has led to him reclaiming leadoff duties over the last 10 games to strong results. 

After Volpe doubled and scored on LeMahieu’s first sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, Wells led off the sixth with his 10th home run of the year off righty reliever Tanner Rainey. 

Volpe followed with a single up the middle and hustled into second when center fielder Jacob Young bobbled the ball.

The Yankees got a scare on the play as Volpe’s helmet-less head collided with the knee of shortstop CJ Abrams at second base. 

But after he was checked out by a trainer, Volpe stayed in the game and then kept running.

He stole third, which set him up to score on LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly for the 4-0 lead. 

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. 

Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a solo home run to Young in the eighth inning, but Clay Holmes had a scare-free ninth inning for his 28th save of the year.