Aaron Judge homers twice to back standout pitching of Jameson Taillon, Michael King in Yankees’ win over Guardians

For fans in the New York area, Friday’s Yankees-Guardians game was available to watch only on the streaming service Amazon Prime as part of its new, exclusive deal with MLB.

Amazon could have called the game “The Aaron Judge Show.” The free-agent-to-be hit a pair of home runs, drove in three runs and made a key defensive play from centerfield to lead the Yankees to a 4-1 victory before 41,062 at Yankee Stadium.

Judge, who entered the Yankees’ 14th game with one home run and two RBIs, hit a towering two-run shot to right-center in the third and lined a solo home run to right in the fifth for his 17th career two-homer game.

Judge has never hit three in a game. He temporarily thrilled the crowd in the seventh with a high drive to right-center that wasn’t long at all and was caught well before the warning track.

Judge also showed his value when he threw out former Mets infielder Andres Gimenez trying to go from first to third on a single in the fifth. That peg helped Jameson Taillon get through five innings with a 4-1 lead en route to his first win of the season.

Taillon, Michael King (eight strikeouts in three innings, including his last seven batters) and Aroldis Chapman totaled 15 strikeouts without a walk.

Judge, who turned down the Yankees’ $230 million contract extension offer before Opening Day, has heard grumbling from fans about his lack of production this season. But not on Friday.

“Judgie kind of had that look in his eyes,” manager Aaron Boone said. “Sometimes he tells me he’s got us, but he kind of gave me that look right before the game, like ‘I got this.’ He was great. And on the ball that checked up out there in center, a huge throw to get a big out when they were rallying. Doing it on both sides.”

The Yankees (8-6), who were shut out on Thursday in Detroit, had four of their first five batters strike out on Friday against Cleveland righthander Eli Morgan.

Judge, who walked in the first, picked up the Yankees’ first hit with two outs in the third when he drove a 3-and-1 pitch to right-center for a 2-0 lead.

The Guardians — playing the Yankees for the first time under their new nickname — made it 2-1 in the fourth on Franmil Reyes’ one-out homer to right. Taillon then pitched out of a second-and-third, one-out jam.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa continued his hot hitting with a two-out RBI single in the fourth to make it 3-1. After he started his Yankees career 1-for-17, that hit was Kiner-Falefa’s 11th in 24 at-bats, a .458 clip.

Judge used his defensive skills to aid Taillon in the fifth. With Jimenez on first, Steven Kwan looped a single to center. Jimenez tried for third, but Judge fielded an odd hop and fired a strike on the line, and Josh Donaldson slapped down the tag for the second out.

After a visit from pitching coach Matt Blake, Taillon got Yankees-killer Jose Ramirez (.487 career batting average in the Bronx going into the game) to fly out to Judge to end the inning on his 84th and final pitch.

Taillon (1-1, 3.07 ERA) allowed seven hits and struck out five.

Judge made it 4-1 in the fifth with a 112-mph laser to right on a 3-and-2 pitch from lefthander Tanner Tully.

“I’ve been feeling good all year,” Judge said. “I think we’re 11, 12 games into it. You can’t really base how you’re feeling, how the season’s going to go off 11 games.”

Even if he was off by a few games, Judge hasn’t lost confidence. Asked if he enjoyed the homers or the throw more, he said: “Wow. I’ve always got to say homers.”

One of the few down notes for the Yankees was the continuing struggles of Joey Gallo, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and heard plenty of boos as his average dropped to .122.