THIS COULD BE A PROBLEM

Yanks' Achilles' heel exposed in Tribe rout

It could have been a whole lot worse.

In addition to getting embarrassed 19-5 by the Indians in front of 44,654 on Thursday night in The Bronx, the Yankees could have watched Aaron Judge suffer a serious injury to his left wrist while diving for a Jason Kipnis double in the sixth inning with the game out of hand.

“I had a lot of concern about it. But we determined he was sound and good,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of the slumping right fielder, who rolled his wrist and lost his glove on the play but finished the game. “I was thinking about getting him out of there, just obviously [because of ] the score, but felt like it was not an issue going forward.’’

Judge, who went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts to extend his slump to 12for-80 (.150) with one homer and four RBIs in the past 21 games (20 starts), felt something in the wrist but said he was OK.

“I felt it roll up a little bit, but no issues,’’ Judge said.

Everywhere else in the quiet Stadium, there were plenty of issues beyond the Yankees moving Mike Ford from DH to the mound for the final two innings.

The 19 Indians runs tied a seasonhigh scored against the Yankees. The 24 hits and seven homers were season highs. The seven homers also tied a franchise record.

MLB rules stipulate games have to be played for nine innings, but the 7-0 first-inning ditch Chad Green and Jonathan Loaisiga combined to drive the Yankees into was too deep to escape.

Jose Ramirez hit a grand slam off Green and Kipnis followed with a solo homer off Loaisiga, who also gave up a two-run homer to Roberto Perez. Ramirez added a two-run homer off Loaisiga in the second. Chance Adams replaced Loaisiga and gave up five runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings. Carlos Santana homered off Adams while Greg Allen and Santana went deep off Ford in the eighth to complete the homer party.

The self-loathing Yankees fans will point to the Indians, who are one-half game out of the AL Central lead, not being the woebegone Orioles and panic about the lopsided loss. Yet the Yankees are 81-42 and lead the second-place Rays by 9 ½ lengths in the AL East and are en route to their first AL East title since 2012.

“Obviously they were tough and kind of getting away there early changed the complexion of the game,’’ Boone said of the Indians, who received at least one hit from every starter in the lineup. “They are a really good team and we have to play our best to beat them.’’

The Yankee highlights were limited to Didi Gregorius, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres hitting homers that did little to dent the early damage done by the Indians. While Ford, the 2013 Ivy League Player and Pitcher of the Year at Princeton, gave up five runs and six hits (two homers) while throwing batting practice fastballs in the 80s during the eighth, his perfect ninth was akin to putting a diamond studded tuxedo on a pig.

“The 53-mph pitch was the best I threw,’’ Ford said of the pitch that Perez missed in the ninth for a second strike and looked at another slow-motion curveball for the final out. “I tried to have fun out there.’’

That was the only light moment of the night.

Green, who figures prominently in the Yankees’ October plans, got pounded for the first time in 12 opener assignments. Loaisiga, who the Yankees expect will help down the stretch, was ineffective. The Yankees scored just three runs off Adam Plutko. And Judge’s funk continued.

“Got to keep grinding. It sucks right now but we will get through it,’’ Judge said.

As bad as it was it could have been worse.