ARLINGTON, Texas — Just about the only thing that could stop Jacob deGrom from dominating the Yankees’ beaten-down lineup on Friday night was his own body.

But even after deGrom left the game in the fourth inning with forearm tightness, the Yankees’ fortunes didn’t get much better. 

Clarke Schmidt continued his rough start to the season and the Aaron Judge-less Yankees didn’t provide him much support in a 5-2 loss to the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

As the Yankees (15-12) awaited word on Judge’s status after he underwent an MRI exam for his sore right hip, they got a rough glimpse of what life could be like if he is forced to miss time.

But the loss wasn’t just on the offense that mustered only five hits.

Schmidt put the Yankees in a 5-0 hole by the third inning and his ERA rose to 6.84 through six starts.

Working through his struggles at the major league level, because the Yankees do not have much depth readily available in the minors as they await returns from the injured Luis Severino and Carlos Rodon, Schmidt gave up a season-high 10 hits while striking out a career-high-tying eight against the Rangers (15-11).

Six of those hits were to left-handed hitters, who have mashed against Schmidt this season, with the cutter he developed over the offseason unable to consistently neutralize that side of the plate like the Yankees had hoped.

“It still comes down to execution,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I know there’s a lot of talk about that pitch or certain pitches; execution’s the key. You see it in flashes every time out there, but you gotta stay away from damage.”

One of Schmidt’s cutters ended up in the seats, as the left-handed hitting Robbie Grossman — who went 3-for-3 with three extra-base hits against him — crushed a two-out, two-run home run against it in the third inning for the 5-0 lead.

It marked the fourth home run off Schmidt’s cutter this season, out of the seven he has allowed overall.

“Figuring out the locations is still kind of like walking on eggshells — where to throw it and where not to throw it,” said Schmidt, who recorded three strikeouts with the cutter.

Schmidt was also frustrated by the at-bat before Grossman. The Rangers only led 2-0 at the time and Schmidt had two outs with an 0-2 count on Jonah Heim. He threw a curveball below the strike zone, but it didn’t get down enough and Heim ripped it for an RBI double over the reach of right fielder Franchy Cordero.

“Obviously it’s frustrating having such good stuff right now and not being able to put up zeroes throughout the whole outing,” Schmidt said. “Being able to show flashes of it is obviously encouraging, but we gotta be able to build off of it and learn from our mistakes.”

Cordero, in addition to being unable to come up with a pair of fly balls to right field that Boone called “really difficult chances,” had another tough night at the plate. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and after the game was optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

After deGrom walked off the mound with a trainer with two outs in the top of the fourth inning, right after Willie Calhoun had recorded the first hit against him, the Yankees pushed across a pair of runs against reliever Dane Dunning. Kyle Higashioka delivered an RBI single in the fifth inning and Calhoun came through with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

But the Judge-less lineup, which included Calhoun batting cleanup and Oswald Peraza batting fifth, could not get enough offense going to overcome Schmidt’s mistakes.

“Some mistakes in some damage zones is what’s getting him still,” Boone said. “When you miss, you gotta miss to spots where you’re not going to get hurt. That’s the next level and next step for him.”