On a day the Yankees couldn’t come up with a clutch hit, Didi Gregorius nearly came up with a huge blow.

With two on and two out against Gerrit Cole in the bottom of the fifth following a two-out double by Edwin Encarnacion and a walk to Gleyber Torres, Didi Gregorius drilled the first pitch he saw to deep right.

But instead of a three-run homer that would have given the Yankees the lead, it faded at the warning track, where Josh Reddick caught it at the wall — and the Yankees’ best chance to put a scare into Houston was lost in a 4-1 defeat in Game 3 of the ALCS in The Bronx.

“I knew it hit the barrel, but I missed it,’’ Gregorius said. “I was checking to see if something happened, but I knew I didn’t have all of it.’’

Still, since this has been the year of the homer, there was some surprise this wasn’t another.

“Off the bat, first off, I think every fly ball in 2019 is a homer,’’ Houston manager A.J. Hinch said. “In season, regular season, postseason, I don’t care. It’s kind of been conditioned that way. But the ball off the bat, I immediately watched the hitter. The hitter tells you the most. And he didn’t respond right away with sort of the pure excitement.”

Reddick was also surprised he had a chance at the ball — but for a different reason than Hinch.

“Any time you see one go to right in the air, you think it’s a homer,’’ Reddick said of Yankee Stadium’s short right field. “I was panicking, just making sure I got back there quick enough to make sure it wasn’t going to get out. But man, what a huge sigh of relief when it went in my glove. It got so loud. It was crazy. It was funny to see a lot of people’s reactions.’’

It was the closest the Yankees got, as Adam Ottavino’s postseason woes continued in the seventh when he allowed two runs to double the Astros’ lead to 4-0.

Gregorius also missed out on coming up with a crucial hit in the first inning, when Cole loaded the bases after consecutive singles by DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge opened the inning and a walk by Torres filled the bases with two outs.

Gregorius swung at the first pitch in that at-bat, as well, and grounded to second.

He didn’t regret his approach in either at-bat, because the Yankees wanted to attack Cole early in the count.

“They were right down the middle,’’ Gregorius said. “A pitch down the middle, you should not miss it.’’

The shortstop finished 0-for-4 and left a team-worst five runners on base — and took the blame for the defeat.

“I didn’t come through for the team when I had the opportunity, so most of the game was on me,’’ Gregorius said. “I was the one who failed, not the whole team.”