Even in a loss, Aaron Judge did something memorable.
With the ball jumping out of Yankee Stadium on Thursday, Judge hit the third-longest homer of his career, a 473-foot shot to left-center off Houston’s Ryan Pressly in the bottom of the eighth.
The homer got the Yankees to within a run, but it wasn’t enough in a 4-3 loss.
Still, it got Aaron Boone’s attention.
“Not a lot of people go to that place,’’ Boone said of the shot that landed next to the bleachers in left-center.
Judge has also hit home runs of 496 feet and 495 feet — and the one that went 496 feet came against the Blue Jays, and off current teammate Marcus Stroman.
“He’s special,’’ Stroman said of Judge. “And he’s not even hot yet.”
If he isn’t, he’s getting close.
Judge is now tied with Juan Soto for the team lead with nine homers and has three in his past four games, as well as six in his last 15.
Judge said he hadn’t looked at a replay of his latest blast and was more concerned about getting the Yankees a run closer in the game.
But his performance on the six-game homestand: 10-for-22, with four doubles, three homers, four walks and seven RBIs, is reason to be optimistic that Judge has found his form.
DJ LeMahieu (foot) took batting practice prior to Thursday’s game and traveled with the Yankees to Tampa, where he will increase baseball activities, including taking live batting practice.
Gerrit Cole (elbow) is also scheduled to throw another bullpen session.
With Nick Burdi set to make his return from a hip injury on Friday, Ron Marinaccio was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after Thursday’s loss.
The right-hander has been excellent since allowing a homer in his first appearance of the season, including pitching a scoreless ninth on Thursday.
The Yankees also added some minor league bullpen depth Thursday, when they claimed right-hander Colby White off waivers from the Rays. They assigned the 25-year-old to Double-A Somerset.
White had been designated for assignment by Tampa Bay. He came back from Tommy John surgery last season, but had been terrible with Triple-A Durham in seven appearances this year.
Boone is among those paying attention to the playoff runs by the Knicks and Rangers.
“It’s been great, certainly, for New York,’’ Boone said. “You can feel that buzz. It is awesome.”
He’s among those who have noticed when the Rangers’ highlights are shown on the scoreboard at the Stadium.
“When they throw the Rangers up there, you know a goal’s coming,” Boone said. “[Wednesday] night on the bench, I said the Knicks must not be winning because I haven’t seen a highlight all night.”
A bat boy in the dugout told Boone that the Knicks were, in fact, down by 10 points at the time before they rallied.
“You can feel the energy and excitement around what the Knicks and Rangers are doing,” Boone said. “I hope the Rangers and Knicks can play for at least another month.”
Trent Grisham was an under-the-radar addition to the Soto trade during the offseason, but more than a month into the season, the extra outfielder has barely touched the field.
It’s a good problem for Boone to have, since it means Soto, Judge and Alex Verdugo have been healthy, as well as Giancarlo Stanton at DH.
But it’s also made it hard for Boone to give Grisham any playing time. And when Grisham has played, he hasn’t had much success.
He has just two hits and five walks in 34 plate appearances, and a large chunk of those came when Verdugo missed time on the paternity list.
Boone said he expected Grisham to get into one or two games in the upcoming series at Tampa Bay, which isn’t surprising considering Judge will likely be out of center field for at least one game on the unforgiving turf of Tropicana Field.
And the Yankees are hoping to get more production.
“There will be those opportunities [for Grisham to play more],’’ Boone said. “But as we’ve gone through this stretch where guys are healthy and have had strong performances, it’s been a little more challenging.”
