Shortly before first pitch Monday, the Yankees were dealt a crushing loss, having to move Aaron Judge to the injured list.

A few hours later, a different kind of crushing loss arose.

Manager Aaron Boone pulled a cruising Domingo German in the ninth inning and watched the bullpen melt down during a backbreaking, 3-2 loss to the Guardians in front of 33,414 stunned fans in The Bronx.

The Yankees (15-15) are .500, have lost four straight games for the first time all season and will not see Judge, out with a strained right hip, until at least next week.

The offense is scuffling, the back end of the bullpen is a concern, and Boone’s late-game decisions will be analyzed.

With his 88th pitch, German allowed a single to Steven Kwan with one out in the ninth, only the second hit German had surrendered while bidding for a shutout.

Boone pulled German from his longest career outing and watched as Clay Holmes and Wandy Peralta ruined a masterpiece.

Holmes couldn’t cleanly backhand Amed Rosario’s soft tapper, which went for an error, and Jose Ramirez singled to load the bases with one out.

Holmes then got the ground ball he was looking for from Josh Naylor — but it found a hole in the right side.

The ball squirted past second baseman Oswald Peraza to drive in two and tie the game.

In came Peralta, who struck out Andres Gimenez before walking Mike Zunino with the bases loaded to score the go-ahead run.

The Yankees went quietly in the ninth against Emmanuel Clase — punctuated by an Aaron Hicks strikeout — in perhaps the worst loss of the season.

The Yankees, who have scored six runs in four games, only engineered offense in the third inning.

Against Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill, Jose Trevino rocketed his third home run of the season into the left-field seats, a no-doubter in which Trevino swung, hopped and began his slow trot.

The Yankees added a second run through a two-out rally in the frame. Anthony Rizzo walked, Gleyber Torres dropped a single into right-center, and DJ LeMahieu drove a single into left-center to score Rizzo, which appeared to be the only runs German would need.

German nearly joined Gerrit Cole as the only Yankees to pitch shutouts this season.

German walked one, struck out six and, while on the mound, did not allow an opposing base runner to reach second base.

Rosario, the second batter of the game, singled to center and would be left at first base.

German then set down the next 11 Guardians in order before a fifth-inning walk to Josh Bell, who also was stranded at first. After the walk, German retired 13 straight batters.

Boone called for Michael King to warm up in the sixth inning, but German retired the side in six pitches.

Peralta started throwing in the bullpen in the seventh inning. Seven pitches later, German had retired the side in order again. King would arise one more time in the eighth, but Boone watched as German pitched into the ninth with little trouble.

German completed more than 6 ¹/₃ innings for the first time this season.

In what has been an up-and-down campaign, German has occasionally been touched up — allowing five home runs in his past 12 innings entering play — and occasionally been spotless, showing the same sort of stuff he displayed when he flirted with a perfect game April 15 in a win over the Twins.

German was nearly untouchable, which made the ending that much more wrenching.