WASHINGTON — Aaron Judge came up with a new rule Monday night: If he doesn’t hit a home run, neither can his opponents — at least not when he’s leading.

The Nationals did the impossible and kept Judge in the park, so the Yankees center fielder did the same by causing a stir with his glove.

Judge leaped and grabbed the ball as he ran into the left-center field wall, turning a potential home run into a double play. It was a prime example of the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Nationals in the season opener at Nationals Park.

While Judge still has 51 home runs after hitting seven in his last six games through Monday, his defensive feat (dethroning former Yankees prospect Andres Chaparro and beating James Wood to first base to end the fourth inning) is the latest addition to his likely AL MVP highlight list.

At the end of the night, Judge also scored his 1,000th career hit, with a single that went the other way.

The Yankees (78-54) drove in solo homers from Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. to win their fifth in their last six games, retaining the best record in the American League and extending their lead in the AL East to two games over the Orioles, who didn’t play.

Anthony Volpe also had three hits and scored twice on sacrifice flies by DJ LeMahieu.

Judge’s steal was one of three plays Nestor Cortes used to limit the Nationals (59-73) to just one run in 6 ²/₃ innings.

Alex Verdugo, who had a three-hit game, also made a great catch as he ran into the left-field wall — shaking off his right knee as he clutched the ball — while Wells intercepted a runner on second base to help Cortes out of another sticky situation.

Cortes held the scoreless until the seventh inning, before Juan Yepez broke the game with a solo homerun.

Previously, Cortes had thrown 20 ¹/₃ consecutive scoreless innings, a major turnaround for the left-handed pitcher as the Yankees enter the final sprint.

He bailed himself out in the sixth inning by striking out three batters after putting runners on second and third to start the inning.

Torres led off the game with his second home run in as many days, this time off left-hander Mitchell Parker, to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

After a difficult start to the season, Torres has found his feet over the past two months, resulting in him taking charge again in the last ten races and achieving good results.

After Volpe doubled and scored on LeMahieu’s first sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, Wells led off the sixth inning with his 10th home run of the year against right-handed reliever Tanner Rainey.

Volpe hit the ball up the middle and raced to second base when center fielder Jacob Young dropped the ball.

The Yankees got the shock of their lives when Volpe’s helmetless head hit the knee of shortstop C.J. Abrams at second base.

But after being checked by a trainer, Volpe stayed in the race and kept running.

He stole third base, allowing him to score on a sacrifice fly by LeMahieu, making the lead 4-0.

Chisholm made it 5-1 in the eighth inning by hitting his 21st home run of the season — his eighth in 18 games as a Yankee — off left-handed reliever Joe La Sorsa.

Mark Leiter Jr. gave up a solo homer to Young in the eighth inning, but Clay Holmes had an immaculate ninth inning for his 28th save of the year.