CLEVELAND -- The eight zeros littered across the Yankees’ line score could have been a prelude to another memorable comeback on Sunday, set up by a four-pitch walk and a missed catch error. With three outs remaining and the sport’s best player squeezing into a helmet, a club that prides itself on never being out of a game seemed very much in this one.

There was high drama, especially once Aaron Judge’s afternoon respite was interrupted by a pinch-hitting opportunity against flame-throwing closer Emmanuel Clase. But the visitors couldn’t pull off this upset; Judge worked a two-out walk that loaded the bases for Aaron Hicks, who grounded out to seal a 2-0 loss to the Guardians at Progressive Field.

“Once you get to two strikes, you’ve got to have that 101 [mph] in the back of your head,” Hicks said. “You don’t expect him to throw three sliders in a row. I just got jammed trying to hit the ball up the middle.”

With Judge and DJ LeMahieu both out of the starting lineup to rest, the big-swinging Yankees were shut out for just the sixth time this year, held to one hit through seven innings in a dominant performance from right-hander Triston McKenzie. New York went quietly in the eighth, but showed life facing Clase, the American League’s Reliever of the Month for June.

Anthony Rizzo trotted to first base after spitting on four pitches out of the strike zone, and Giancarlo Stanton legged out a grounder, unexpectedly remaining aboard when a throw from shortstop Amed Rosario clanked out of first baseman Owen Miller’s glove.

Josh Donaldson flew out to center field, and Gleyber Torres looked at a Clase slider for a called third strike. Judge watched those at-bats intently, practicing his stride in front of the bat rack, then hearing cheers as he moved toward the on-deck circle.

Judge, remarked Guardians manager Terry Francona, “looked like he was swinging four bats over there in the dugout.”

Yankees manager Aaron Boone intended for it to be a full day off for Judge, who’d made his usual arguments toward wanting to play, though perhaps not with desk-banging force.

“I think he understands,” Boone said. “He usually always wants [to be] in there, but I was pretty convicted on it last night.”

Thus wielding the league’s version of an Uno “Draw 4” card, Boone had resisted using Judge in the eighth inning. LeMahieu flew out as a pinch-hitter for Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Joey Gallo struck out and Matt Carpenter whiffed while batting in place of Marwin Gonzalez.

“Unless there were a few runners out there, I really wanted to stay away from Judge going into today,” Boone said, “and I knew that potential situation was coming back around for us in the ninth.”

Clase seemed to want no part of Judge, the Major Leagues’ home run leader with 29. Clase threw three sliders, missing the strike zone with two, then missed well inside with a cutter. Judge took a big hack at a 3-1 slider over the plate and missed, then Clase bounced a slider for ball four.

That brought up Hicks, who has struggled mightily with runners in scoring position this year (8-for-54, .148 average), including just one hit in seven at-bats with the bases loaded (.143). Keeping Clase’s triple-digit heater in mind, Hicks looked at a slider for strike one, then chopped another foul.

To Hicks’ surprise, Clase’s next pitch was a slider, too -- rolled toward second baseman Andres Giménez for the final out.

So ended a span of 20 games without a scheduled off-day for the Yankees, who fared 14-6 over that span -- winning series against the Rays (twice), Blue Jays, Athletics and Guardians, including sweeps of Tampa Bay and Oakland.

“It was a tough stretch,” Boone said. “Some tough travel, middle-of-the-night situations, day games after night games. I thought we played well through it.”

The Astros proved formidable as expected, splitting a four-game set in New York before taking a one-run makeup game on Thursday in Houston. Still, the Yanks prepared to board their buses toward Pittsburgh and a rare 4th of July off-day, satisfied with the larger picture of what they have accomplished and where they are going.

“I think everybody is excited about the off-day,” said left-hander Jordan Montgomery, who struck out eight batters in five innings. “We’ve been playing good, especially for that many days in a row. The competition we’ve been facing has been incredible, so to come out of it [with a 14-6 record], that is pretty good.”