BOSTON — So, Yankees fans, what was your level of confidence late Friday night, Luke Voit vs. Craig Kimbrel, game on the line?

On a scale of 1 to 10 … it couldn’t have been any less than a 7 that Voit would figure out a way to keep ALDS Game 1 going, if not necessarily deliver a game-tying homer at Fenway Park, right?

The Yankees’ surging sophomore Voit struck out against Kimbrel, one of the industry’s best relievers, to finalize the Yankees’ 5-4 loss. Can’t hit 1.000, right? Yet Voit’s showing so far in his first postseason, and even his words following his contest-ending whiff, make him increasingly difficult to ignore when it comes to discussing the Yankees’ future.

The more we see and hear of this guy, the less we want to ignore him moving forward.

“He’s certainly exceeded my expectations,” GM Brian Cashman said of Voit on Friday, before Game 1. “He’s batting close to the middle of the lineup in the postseason. That’s pretty impressive stuff. And he’s certainly taken advantage of his opportunity playing here. I’m thankful for it.”

In the wake of his .333/.405/.689 showing in 148 plate appearances with the Yankees, who acquired him from the Cardinals on July 29, Voit collected three hits in nine at-bats as he started the team’s AL wild-card victory over the A’s and then ALDS Game 1. His two-run, sixth-inning triple off Oakland’s Blake Treinin in the wild-card game boosted the Yankees’ lead to 5-0. In ALDS Game 1, he drove in the Yankees’ first run when his sixth-inning single plated Brett Gardner.

After Game 1, Voit discussed his team’s chipping away at the Red Sox’s bullpen and its ultimate failure to complete the mission, with his whiff against Kimbrel ending things.

“That’s kind of everyone’s mentality: Every time a starter takes the mound, try to get the starter out and try to get to the pen,” Voit said. “It sucks, especially since I was the last guy with a chance to do something and I didn’t get the job done.”

Voit’s natural Yankees comparable has been Shane Spencer from the 1998 team. Both were unheralded, low-round draft picks who delivered shocking power surges — Spencer at 26, Voit now at 27. Spencer lasted another six years in the major leagues, and though he provided some value as a role player here and there, he played more than 100 games in a season just once — 2003, when he appeared in 64 games for the Indians and 55 for the Rangers. He struggled to stay on the field, enduring a slew of injuries, and following a litany of embarrassing incidents — capped by a DUI arrest in Port St. Lucie — that led to his release from the Mets in 2004, he got professional help for what he colloquially referred to as “partying.”

So what to make of Voit? His sample size doubles Spencer’s 73 plate appearances with the ’98 Yankees, plus two more. As Cashman said of Voit, “He was someone that was on our radar. Our analytics crew had noticed him early on. In a lot of our meetings last year, he was someone we coveted from St. Louis, and we finally matched up.”

Greg Bird, whom Voit supplanted at first base, remains on this roster.

“Nothing much to really talk about next year at the present. Bird’s ceiling is what his ceiling was,” Cashman said. “The way his season played out has been a head-scratcher. But the great thing about our game … is he’ll go home and try to regain all the accolades that were coming his way with performance and that can start next spring.”

Bird has the pedigree, Voit the production. Could the Yankees switch the defensively challenged third baseman Miguel Andujar across the diamond? Could they actually sign Bryce Harper to play first base?

It’s too early (maybe by a lot, maybe by a little) to ask these questions. Man, though, with each game, doesn’t Voit seem like an increasingly legitimate answer?