But Judge still Supremely bad

things when a guy’s struggling,” Joe Girardi said before the game. “I’ve tried moving him to two, and I’ve had him fourth and fifth, so I just moved him to sixth.

“Didi’s been swinging pretty well and Castro’s been swinging pretty well. But again, (Judge) is really important for us.”

Girardi, of course, finally took the skidding outfielder out of the lineup earlier this week, benching him Monday against Cleveland and in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader following a rainout the previous day.

With their chances of catching the Red Sox fading after getting swept by the Indians — and with the wild-card race tightening behind them — the Yanks desperately have been trying to jumpstart Judge, who posted MVP-caliber numbers with 30 homers before the All-Star break.

Judge opened the season in the bottom half of the lineup, and when he’d previously batted fifth or lower, he hit .331 (56-for-169) with 17 homers and 37 RBI.

Still, Girardi believes it’s unfair to single out Judge as the key to the team’s playoff hopes over the final month of the regular season.

“Yeah, I think it really is, because there’s eight other guys in the lineup every day,” Girardi said. “So it’s a lot of weight that you’re putting on one kid, which is not fair. The reality is that you have to handle it, and we will continue to encourage him.”

Judge, who now has just three hits in his past 42 at-bats against Boston with no homers or RBI, was on the field more than four hours before Thursday’s game, hitting off a tee and in soft-toss drills with hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Judge mostly was driving balls to the opposite field, but insisted they weren’t focused on anything besides “just working on my swing.”

Judge added that his sore left shoulder “feels good” and that “getting a couple of days” off earlier this week “really helped it out.” He struck out as a pinch-hitter in the opener of Wednesday’s doubleheader and went 1-for-3 with a walk in the nightcap.

“I’ve been going every day since April 2 or whatever,” Judge said, “so getting a couple of days off I think helped it for the long haul.”