JUDGED, FOUND WANTING

Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is playing with an injured shoulder. —PHOTOS BY AFP

NEW YORK—Instead of closing in on title No. 28, the New York Yankees are on the verge of getting swept in the World Series for just the fourth time.

Aaron Judge again looked lost at the plate, starting pitching faltered for the second straight game and the Yankees dropped into a 3-0 Series deficit with a 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.

In the quiet Yankees clubhouse, players insisted they could spark an improbable turnaround. No team has overcome a 3-0 World Series deficit.

“All it takes is one,” Judge said. “All it takes is one swing, one at-bat, one play, everything changes for us.”

Judge is 1 for 12 (.083) with no RBIs and seven strikeouts in the Series and is hitting .140 with 20 strikeouts in this postseason.

“It’s definitely shocking,” Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes said. “Obviously, you’re talking about one of the best players in the world right now.”

Judge is down to a .196 average with 15 homers, 31 RBIs and 86 strikeouts in his postseason career.

“I’m not doing any good for the team,” he said, “so just got to step up, take my walks when I can, drive the baseball if I get something to hit.”

Aaron Judge has been the epitome of the Yankees’ struggles in the World series.

‘Stinks’

New York has nine hits in the last two games, just three for extra bases, and struck out 11 times on Monday.

Its bottom four hitters are a combined 6 for 43 with three RBIs, including Alex Verdugo’s two-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Michael Kopech. Yankees hitters are 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position.

“It stinks,” Anthony Rizzo said of the Yankees’ predicament. “It’s not going to be easy, for sure.”

Even New York’s bats are easy catches. When Anthony Volpe struck out against Daniel Hudson in the seventh inning, his lumber went flying over the Dodgers dugout. It hit the netting protecting fans in the prime seats, and LA field coordinator Bob Geren snagged the lumber off the rebound.

“We’re playing kind of on the back foot a little bit,” Verdugo said.

In the Yankees’ first World Series home game since 2009, their best chance to rebound from an early deficit was when Giancarlo Stanton doubled in the fourth with the Dodgers ahead 3-0. Volpe hit a two-out single and Stanton was sent home by third base coach Luis Rojas. Teoscar Hernández made a perfect one-hop throw and Stanton, a slow runner, was tagged out by catcher Will Smith.

“In that situation, two outs, you gotta roll the dice on it,” Stanton said.

Seven straight

New York resembles the team that went 10-23 from mid-June through late July, not the one that started 50-22 and rebounded to win the AL East and its 41st pennant. In a Series with relatively little offense, the Yankees have been outscored 14-7, outhit .213 to .186 and out-homered 5-3.

“Hopefully we can go be this amazing story and shock the world,” Boone said. “But right now it’s about trying to get a lead, trying to grab a game, and force another one, and then on from there. But we’ve got to grab one first.”

Walker Buehler pitched superbly anew for the Dodgers , who are now one win from the title.

Since winning the first two games of the 1981 Series at home against the Dodgers, the Yankees have lost seven in a row to Los Angeles in the Fall Classic.

One out from winning the opener 3-2 in 10 innings, the Yankees have been outscored 12-4 since in this Series. Carlos Rodón and Clarke Schmidt lasted six innings combined in Games 2 and 3.

Schmidt walked Shohei Ohtani on four pitches starting the game and Freddie Freeman followed with a two-run homer.

“Ended up pulling the cutter across the zone,” Schmidt said.

New York has been swept just three times in the World Series, by the 1922 New York Giants (including a tie game), the 1963 Dodgers and the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

“If that team wins three in a row, then why can’t we win three in a row?” Verdugo said.

Freeman homered for the third straight game and Walker Buehler pitched another World Series in the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory over the Yankees.

With superstar Shohei Ohtani playing despite a partially dislocated left shoulder, Los Angeles moved within one victory of a surprising sweep in this much-hyped matchup between traditional powers.

Buehler and six relievers combined on a five-hitter for the Dodgers, on the cusp of their second championship in five years and the eighth in franchise history.

“Walker Buehler, he’s been doing this his whole career in big games, big moments,” Freeman said. “Steps up when you need him.”

“One more win. That’s all I care about right now,” Freeman added.