ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It seems clear now, the Yankees will go only as far as Aaron Judge will take them. 

On Sunday, they avoided a three-game sweep to the Rays, with a 2-1 win to snap a three-game losing streak, as Judge provided most of the offense with a homer and a double in front of a sell-out crowd of 25,025 at Tropicana Field. 

And the Yankees got a break to finish the game. With the Rays having scored a run and the potential winning run on second, Clay Holmes struck out Yandy Diaz looking on a pitch that appeared to be low. 

The Yankees got their lead in the AL East back to five games — and four in the loss column — over Tampa Bay, thanks in part to five shutout innings from Frankie Montas. 

“It does feel bigger,” Aaron Boone said after the Yankees avoided having their lead in the East cut to three games, which it hasn’t been since May 9. 

“With what we’re going through, to get a big, tough win on the road against a team we’re fighting with [for the division] is huge at this time of year,’’ Boone said. “Hopefully this is something that can be settling for some guys as we start a big homestand [Monday].” 

Judge gave the Yankees the lead with a homer to start the game, a 450-foot blast off the final catwalk in left off Tampa Bay opener Shawn Armstrong. 

His 53rd homer is a career-high and moved Judge to within eight of Roger Maris’ Yankees and American League home run record set in 1961. 

Judge also doubled and scored in the seventh after some heads-up baserunning to get to third. 

“What more can you say?” Boone said of Judge. “We need to get other guys going. Aaron, in every aspect, set the tone. A homer, the slide to third base to score on a sacrifice fly. He’s playing on an incredible level.” 

Judge, though, knows how much more work there is to do for a team that has been slumping for months. 

“A win is a win,” Judge said. “We need them all, no matter what happens. We were focused on today, not the last few days.” 

Jonathan Loaisiga, pitching much better of late, finished the seventh and pitched a perfect eighth, but Holmes made things interesting in the ninth. 

Holmes allowed a leadoff double to David Peralta before Vidal Brujan lined a shot to right that was caught by Judge. Pinch-hitter Francisco Mejia singled in Peralta to make it a one-run game. 

Holmes gave up a liner to center that was tracked down by Estevan Florial, in for defense. 

Jonathan Aranda doubled to left to send Brujan to third. 

That set up the final at-bat, which Diaz got to a full count before Holmes finished it with a 100-mph sinker, leading Diaz to slam his bat down in anger after disagreeing with the call. 

Boone, watching the final innings from his office after getting tossed for arguing a catcher’s interference call in the fifth, joked his “pacemaker was kicking in” during the ninth. 

The victory hardly erased all of the Yankees’ recent woes. 

Their offense was held to two runs or fewer for a fourth straight game and the same issues that have plagued it for much of the second half — an inability of anyone other than Judge to hit — showed no signs of abating. 

They left runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, with Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka all failing to deliver with two outs. The Yankees were 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position in the series and are hitless in their last 22 at-bats in such situations.

The Yankees got their second extra-base hit of the day when Judge opened the seventh with a bloop double to right off of JT Chargois. 

DJ LeMahieu then hit a grounder to short, and with the Yankees desperate for runs, Judge took off for third — just diving in ahead of the throw from Walls — putting runners on the corners with no one out. 

The Rays brought the infield in, as Oswaldo Cabrera faced lefty Colin Poche. Cabrera drove in Judge with a sacrifice fly to left to make it 2-0. 

And the Yankees’ pitching made it stand up.