Judge loses race vs. replay

Aaron Judge’s seventh-inning homer and double in the eighth helped spark a comeback 6-4 win over the Astros in Game 4 of the ALCS — and made it easier to forget about his adventurous trip on the basepaths in the fourth.

Judge nearly managed to get thrown out twice in the same inning after he walked to lead off the frame.

With one out, Judge was on first with one out when he took off toward second. Gary Sanchez hit a fly ball to shallow right-center.

“I didn’t know if it was going to drop or not,” Judge said. “I was kind of out in no-man’s land.”

Right fielder Josh Reddick raced in to catch the ball and Judge remained near second base.

Reddick’s throw back to first beat Judge to the base, but first baseman Yuli Gurriel had trouble getting back to the bag.

A sliding Judge was called out on the play for an inning-ending double play, but the Yankees challenged and he was ruled safe.

The replay also showed that Judge didn’t touch second base on his return to first and the Astros were preparing to appeal the play, with Lance McCullers Jr. throwing to second.

Judge, knowing he’d likely be out on the appeal, bolted for second again before the throw by McCullers to shortstop Carlos Correa, but he was out on that play — finally ending the inning with the game still scoreless.

“I was going to be out no matter what [so] why not try?” Judge said. “If I slide in safe and they try to tag me, they can’t appeal the previous play. That’s the only option I had.’’

Houston manager A.J. Hinch understood Judge’s reasoning after seeing the replay on the screen in center field.

“Obviously the screen is as big as the state of New York,” Hinch said. “We could see that he didn’t touch second base on the way back. They saw it, as well. Judge knew. … So pretty smart decision by them trying to steal that base. We were fortunate to get the tag-out.”