BOSTON — Imagine if, week after week, as the Yankees chased a playoff berth, they anchored their lineup with Chris Carter, the often-booed, twice-released, feast-or-mostly-famine slugger.

The back pages of the tabloids would shriek, and Twitter would be afire.

But that is essentially what the Yankees have done for more than five weeks. Since Aaron Judge returned from the All-Star Game in Miami, he has barely resembled the rookie power hitter who became the belle of baseball.

Instead, he has looked a lot like the long-gone Carter. Judge has struck out at a prodigious rate, has flashed his tremendous power only on rare occasions and, as the third man in the batting order, has generally been a drag on the Yankees’ offense.

His struggles at the plate continued on Sunday, when the Yankees were throttled by Rick Porcello and three relievers in a 5-1 loss to the division-leading Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. The Yankees lost two of the three games to the Red Sox for the second straight weekend and left town trailing them by five games in the American League East.