An announced crowd of 40,249 came to a chilly Yankee Stadium on Thursday night to watch a ballgame. 

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They may have been better off just staying home to tune into the Knicks, or any number of activities that would have been less frustrating than watching the Yankees lineup. 

On a night when arguably the biggest cheers were reserved for the Knicks score being flashed on the video board, the Yankees bats came up emptier than airballs in a 2-0 loss to the Blue Jays in The Bronx. 

After winning the first two games of the four-game set against the defending division champs, the Yankees (30-21) wasted a chance to take the series over the past two nights, going down meekly with a combined one run and nine hits. 

That was understandable Wednesday, when the Blue Jays (23-27) had young stud Trey Yesavage on the mound, but on Thursday, the Yankees mustered just three hits as they were shut down in a bullpen game, led by bulk reliever Spencer Miles, a rookie who cruised across 4 ¹/₃ innings. 

“We got some work to do,” said Aaron Judge, who acknowledged looking forward to the series after the Blue Jays ended the Yankees’ season last October with an ALDS thrashing. “We don’t like splitting that series, but we’ll take care of business in the next one.” 

The Yankees, who will welcome the division-leading Rays on Friday for a showdown that begins with Gerrit Cole’s season debut, have now lost nine of their past 13 games. 

They struck out 14 times, did not have a runner advance past second base all night and only had multiple base runners in one inning — first and second with one out in the sixth, after which Jazz Chisholm Jr. (0-for-4, four strikeouts) struck out on three pitches and Paul Goldschmidt grounded out. 

“Bullpen games can be challenging offensively and they matched up well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But we got shut down tonight. … We got to get some guys going, period.” 

Judge, owner of the seventh-highest OPS in the majors, had another quiet night, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout and grounding into a double play. He is now 4-for-31 with 12 strikeouts over his past eight games. 

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“I’m not doing enough at the plate,” Judge said. 

Boone chalked it up to a timing issue for the back-to-back AL MVP. 

“Just going through it a little bit right now,” Boone said. “Usually that means good things coming on the other side. A little in between probably. … He’ll get through it and somebody will pay the price real soon.” 

Carlos Rodón turned in the best start of his delayed season, tossing five innings of one-run ball. He still battled some issues with his command — walking three batters, one of which turned into the only run he allowed — but allowed just three hits and struck out seven while completing five innings for the first time this year. 

Despite the left-hander’s fastball velocity being down, Rodón generated 18 whiffs, an encouraging sign even on a night when he was still trying to fine-tune his command. 

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Rodón said. “Obviously I’d like to get deeper into games.” 

Camilo Doval later gave up another run when he left a slider over the heart of the plate to George Springer, who belted it for a solo shot that made it 2-0 in the seventh inning. 

But with the way the Yankees offense was going, it did not matter much, a fact that will need to be rectified against another tough division opponent this weekend. 

“We just got to tighten up a couple things here with us and we’ll be right where we need to be,” Judge said. “The offense isn’t too far off. You get a couple timely hits, get a couple walks when you need it, some good things are going to happen. Just got to get some traffic back out there.”