Aaron Judge goes homerless, but Luis Severino holds Texas hitless in his seven innings

ARLINGTON, Texas — The 35,906 who filled Globe Life Field to near capacity Monday night nearly saw history.

Just not the kind that drew that kind of crowd for a meaningless late-season weeknight game.

Luis Severino threw seven no-hit innings in his third start since returning from the 60-day injured list, highlighting the Yankees’ 3-1 win over the Rangers. Aaron Judge went 1-for-4 but remained tied with Roger Maris for the American League single-season home run record with 61.

Judge did see his on-base streak reach 31 games with an infield single in the sixth but otherwise had a quiet night offensively, grounding to third, lining out and striking out. In the battle for the American League batting title, he fell to .311. Minnesota’s Luis Arraez, who did not play Monday night, is at .315.

Severino, meanwhile, was absurdly good. The righthander, who threw 64 pitches in his first start and 76 in his second — therefore making Aaron Boone’s decision to remove him a fairly easy one — walked one and struck out seven.

Severino’s 94th and final pitch was a 100-mph fastball as he struck out Nathaniel Lowe. Did he think he would have completed the no-hitter if he had stayed in? “A thousand percent,’’ he said. “To get a no-hitter is tough . . . I was feeling how the fastball was, I feel like I would have.”

He added, “Nobody wants to be taken out in that situation. But I understand, being out for a couple of months, I think it was 90-something pitches and the start before was 70-something. So I think it was a good decision. I want to go out there and have my stuff and be good for the postseason. We’re looking at the bigger picture.”

What was the conversation like when Boone had his hands on Severino’s shoulders in the dugout? “I was trying to fight him,’’ Severino said, “but in the end, you can’t do anything about it. He told me, ‘What do you think?’ I said, ‘I’m coming back out there.’ But it was not a great idea to go out there and push it to 115 pitches.”

Boone said that if Severino had gotten through eight innings on 94 pitches, it would have been tougher to take him out. “It’s a decision that sucks to have to make . . . I mean, it puts a little damper on the night, honestly,’’ Boone said. “It’s not a fun thing to have to do. The highest league in the land and he’s out there doing his job at a really high and special level, and to have to be the one that shuts that down is not fun but one you gotta do.”

“That’s probably up there with the best times I’ve ever seen him throw,’’ catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “I think if he would have been able to go nine, I’m pretty certain he would have gotten that no-hitter. But he [Boone] made a team decision, kind of going into the playoffs here, don’t want to have those max-effort reps at 120 pitches. He made a really good team decision and I commend him for that. But I really wanted to see him throw a no-hitter.”

Severino allowed his only baserunner in the bottom of the third, walking Josh Smith with one out. Bubba Thompson hit into a double play, allowing Severino to pitch to the minimum 21 batters through seven innings.

“I was feeling good from the beginning,’’ he said. “The fastball was electric today. I was locating wherever he put the glove.”

“I thought the fastball had crazy life today,’’ Higashioka said. “He must have been averaging like 98 [mph]. He has three plus-pitches — fastball, slider, changeup. That [the fastball] combined with his other two pitches working, it was really good.”

Severino has allowed three runs and five hits in 16 innings, striking out 17, since being activated. “Like the guy who should be pitching Game 1 [of a playoff series] for them,” one National League scout said of what he had seen from him since his return — and that was before Monday.

The prospect of a combined no-hitter soon dissipated when Miguel Castro allowed a one-out single by Josh Jung in the eighth. Castro allowed two hits and a run in the inning to make it 3-1.

The Yankees (98-61), who will play a split doubleheader against the Rangers on Tuesday, did get two home runs. After Marwin Gonzalez hit his sixth of the season in the eighth to make it 2-0, Giancarlo Stanton connected with a 99.3-mph fastball and hit a 457-foot shot to left-centerfield for his 30th later in the inning.

The Yankees hit into six double plays, tying a franchise record, in the first seven innings.

Judge is 8-for-34 with 18 walks and 15 strikeouts since hitting his 60th on Sept. 20 and 2-for-12 with five walks and seven strikeouts since lining No. 61 into the Blue Jays’ bullpen at Rogers Centre last Wednesday in Toronto.

Is he pressing? “I think everyone else is pressing,’’ Stanton said. “You know, everyone wants to see it and he’s just sitting there taking his walks, hitting the ball hard. People don’t like doubles and singles at this time, but it doesn’t matter. He’s doing what he can.

“It’s obviously there on his mind, but I don’t think it’s a problem for him. That’s a great story to have, that he’s pressing, but his at-bats have looked great. He’s not taking wild swings or chasing out of the ordinary. He’s got time to do it. As long as he continues to have good at-bats, it’ll come.”