Aaron Judge’s bat shows signs of life in funk-snapping ALDS clincher

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Aaron Judge picked a good time for his first extra-base hit of the playoffs.

Shortly after his unlikely nemesis, Michael Wacha, was chased from the game by Gleyber Torres’ RBI single, Judge led off the sixth inning Thursday with a double to left-center field and scored on the sizzling Giancarlo Stanton’s single up the middle of a drawn-in infield.

Judge drew two walks, reached base three times and stole a base as the Yankees eliminated the Royals and advanced with a 3-1 victory in Game 4 of the ALDS.

The once-raucous Kauffman Stadium crowd had died down to the point that you could listen for a sigh of relief from Judge as he reached second base on his double.

He was 1-for-12 in the series up until that point, including grounding into a first-inning double play against Wacha after Torres and Juan Soto combined to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead only three pitches into the game.

The likely American League MVP’s only other hit in the series was an infield single, which continued a building narrative that he comes up small in the postseason.

Or at least nothing like the way he delivered while hitting 58 home runs, scoring 122 runs, knocking in another 144 runs and posting 1.159 OPS.

But manager Aaron Boone thought he saw signs that Judge was on the verge of some hits, saying that they were having their “normal conversations” without seeing any sign of pressing.

“I thought he had some good swings [in Game 3],” Boone said before Game 4. “I felt like he got good swings off on a couple of the fly-outs that he had. Got into some deep counts, had a walk. Actually probably had a second walk [struck out on a controversial check swing]. I think he looks pretty good to me.”

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Judge is a career .206 hitter with the second-highest postseason strikeout rate (minimum 200 plate appearances) in MLB history — better than only journeyman catcher Martin Maldonado.

Trim the sample size to the last two postseason trips by the Yankees and Judge’s average drops to .143 (7-for-49).

Believe it or not, Judge’s numbers head-to-head with Wacha over his career are actually worse (1-for-21) so he certainly welcomed a chance to face closer Lucas Erceg in the sixth.

The 359-foot double jumped off his bat at 115.5 mph — the second-hardest-hit ball by either team in the game.

The Yankees likely will need more out of Judge — who secured the final out of Game 4 and pumped his fist — to advance past the Tigers or Guardians in the ALCS.