NEW YORK — The last time New York Yankees superstar outfielder Aaron Judge hit a home run, he was on pace to finish the 2024 season with 63, which would eclipse the American League record of 62 that he set in 2022. That happened on Aug. 25, when he hit his 50th and 51st against the Colorado Rockies. Sixteen games have passed without a Judge home run, the longest drought of his career.

Judge went 1-for-4 in the Yankees’ 2-1 walk-off win over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night. Entering Thursday night’s game, Judge was in an 11-for-54 slump, with a .618 OPS and just four RBIs. Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked about Judge’s recent struggles before Wednesday’s game.

“That’s hitting,” Boone said. “Even for kind of another historic season that he’s putting together, you’re still going to go through it at different times. We saw it a little bit in April. We’ve seen it for a couple of weeks where he’s not dominating at his usual self. It’s something that I’m confident that he’ll get rolling and I look forward to when we hop on again.”

Judge also set his longest stretch of plate appearances without a home run in Thursday’s game. In 2017, when he finished with 52 home runs and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award, Judge went 69 plate appearances without a home run. He surpassed that mark in the third inning when he flew out to center field, just short of the warning track.

Judge’s recent drought coincides with his appearance on the animated television show “Rubble & Crew,” a spin-off of “Paw Patrol.” This has led many fans online to colloquially call it the “Paw Patrol” curse. However, in the first game of the three-game series against the Washington Nationals on August 26, Judge grimaced while rounding first base on a ninth-inning single he hit down the right-field line. After the game, Judge was asked about his pained expression. He turned to a public relations staffer to ask how many games the Yankees had played and then said he was fine.

Judge entered Thursday’s game with a .277 wOBA over the past 15 games; he leads MLB with a .472 wOBA. Judge also leads baseball with a 59.9 percent hard-hit rate, but it was down to 42.4 percent in this stretch. He’s also running a 45.5 percent ground-ball rate, which could also mean it’s either a mechanical or timing issue Judge is working through.

Either way, for the Yankees to be at their best heading into the postseason, Judge will need to once again become the force he has been for most of this season.

“Homers, even for guys like him, come in bunches,” Boone said Thursday night. “You’re going to have those stretches. I guess it’s amazing that he has avoided those. That’s just a testament to how good of a hitter and how much power he has.”