Andrew Benintendi's two-run blast leads Yankees to much-needed win over Blue Jays

Maybe it was the spark the Yankees needed.

Then again, maybe not.

All that can be said for now of the near-benches-clearing incident involving Aaron Judge in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday at the Stadium was that it provided a surge of energy in the dugout — an energy that Judge had said had been lacking recently.

Andrew Benintendi snapped a 2-2 tie with a two-run homer into the second deck in rightfield in the seventh inning. It was Benintendi’s first homer since June 20, when he was a member of the Kansas City Royals. He hadn’t homered in his previous 50 games, 178 at-bats and 207 plate appearances.

“I think it definitely was one of those moments. No secret what we’re going through,” Aaron Boone said. “That was a big blow. Important game.”

The Yankees (74-48) “improved” to 5-14 in August and extended their AL East lead over the Blue Jays (65-55) to eight games.

Lou Trivino escaped a jam in the seventh and pitched the final 2 1⁄3 innings, allowing only one baserunner.

“You can’t say enough about that effort from Lou,” Boone said.

Now, to the incident:

With Benintendi on second base after a one-out double in the fifth, Alek Manoah hit Judge in the left biceps area. Judge took a step toward Manoah, who appeared to try to tell him there was no intent behind the pitch.

“No,” Judge said when asked if he thought there was intent. “But it’s the heat of the moment. Nobody likes to get hit.”

Judge quickly motioned to Yankees players to go back into the dugout around the same time that bench coach Carlos Mendoza intercepted an angry, hard-charging Gerrit Cole, who emerged from the dugout to scream at Manoah, who has done his own yelling toward the Yankees’ dugout multiple times this season.

Manoah was not impressed, telling Toronto reporters afterward: “If Gerrit wants to do something, he can walk past the Audi sign [painted on the field near the home dugout] next time.”

Of hitting Judge and the ensuing conversation, Manoah said: “He looked at me and he’s like, ‘That’s two.’ In the first inning, I did mistakenly throw one up there as well. But in a situation like that, I’m trying to minimize baserunners. So I told him, ‘I’m not trying to do that.’  ”

Why did Judge immediately try to defuse the situation, which included stepping off first and having a few words with Manoah?

“Just knowing the situation,” Judge said. “It’s a close game. At first, you’re [ticked], and I was [ticked], but I didn’t need anybody else getting thrown out for me getting hit. I was just kind of moving on to the next play. I know [Anthony] Rizzo had a big at-bat behind me. I’d be a little happier with getting a couple of runs instead of us brawling out there.”

The Yankees’ best offense early was the grounder to shortstop by DJ LeMahieu, which produced runs in the first and third innings.

With two outs in the first, Rizzo put a dent in the rightfield wall with a line-drive single, and on a 2-and-2 pitch, the Yankees pulled off a perfect hit and run. Shortstop Bo Bichette covered second and LeMahieu hit what would have been a routine grounder through the wide-open left side that sent Rizzo to third. Leftfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s hurried, off-balance, off-line throw got past third baseman Matt Chapman and Manoah and ricocheted off the backstop, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

With two outs and runners on first and second in the third after a pair of walks, LeMahieu ripped a hard grounder that Bichette tried to play to the glove side instead of getting in front of it. He whiffed, and the Yankees had a 2-1 lead.

In between, the Blue Jays tied it on a freak play in the top of the third. Whit Merrifield hit a drive to right-center that hit the top of the wall of the Yankees’ bullpen, bounced high in the air and — with Aaron Hicks unsuccessfully trying to goaltend the rebound and bring it back onto the field — hit the top of the wall a second time before falling into the bullpen for his seventh homer.

In the top of the seventh, Wandy Peralta faced Jackie Bradley Jr. with the bases loaded. Peralta had held lefthanded hitters to a .119 average, Bradley had been hitting .132 against lefthanders .  .  . and Peralta walked him to tie the score. But Peralta got Gurriel to ground into a forceout at the plate and Trivino retired Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on a grounder to short.

“It’s a good one that feels better,” Judge said of the victory. “Especially after the last couple of losses we’ve had and dropping this series. But I think if you go up and down the lineup, each guy played a big part in that game.”