Aaron Judge’s monster homer not enough in Yankees’ loss

BOSTON — Aaron Judge visited a part of Fenway Park that few have ever visited. One swing brought the Yankees from down one run to up two runs and made plenty of Red Sox fans ask one another if they have ever seen a home run land where this one landed.

It was majestic. It was a jolt for a team that needed one. It was not enough.

The only downside to Judge’s 470-foot, jaw-dropping dinger was that he was awarded no extra runs for style or distance.

The Yankees captain crushed a three-run shot just about to the moon, but it still counted for merely three runs — not enough on a night the Bombers’ bullpen imploded late in a 9-7, series-opening loss to the Red Sox on Friday.

After Judge’s swing in the seventh inning, a loss felt nearly impossible. Judge connected on a first-pitch cutter from Zack Kelly that cut right across the plate. The ball was launched to center field, the deepest part of the ballpark, and it just kept going.

Center fielder Jarren Duran ran a few steps back and looked up.

The fans in the center-field seats craned their necks, too.

The bruised ball cleared the section and snuck right under the scoreboard, hitting the back of where the camera well resides for the third-longest home run at Fenway Park in the Statcast era (since 2015).

Only Miguel Sano (485 feet in 2021) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (471 feet on June 24 this season) have gone deeper.

Judge has gone deeper once this year, launching a 473-foot shot in The Bronx on May 9.

“That’s about as clean as you can hit a baseball,” said manager Aaron Boone, who wasn’t even sure where the ball stopped. “He pure’d it.”

Judge ran the bases, saluted the bullpen and looked into a visiting dugout that was hopping as he jogged toward third base.

He said he had to later watch a replay to see where the ball ended up and downplayed the mammoth moment.

“I try not to watch them,” Judge said of his homers. “It was cool seeing the excitement of the team.”

No. 36 on the season for Judge gave the Yankees a 6-4 edge, and one batter later Austin Wells went deep to pad the lead to three runs.

It felt like the breakthrough that a team that has lacked a pulse for much of the last six weeks desperately needed. It merely was another titanic shot for a team resembling the Titanic.

“It just gave us a lead,” Judge said. “Especially in this park, no lead’s really safe.”