Photographers flocked to the outskirts of the Yankees dugout steps, forming two parallel lines that allowed enough space for the main attraction to squeeze between them. They trained their devices on the tunnel below and waited.

The only thing missing was a red carpet.

And then the superstar that is Aaron Judge, attempting to repress a grin, jogged up the steps, darted through the flashes and made his way to the batting cage.

Manager Aaron Boone did not bother suppressing his emotions, wearing a wide smile as he watched his captain take a round of batting practice that seemed normal.

It was not normal, of course, because the scene had not been seen since May.

But exactly 100 days after he played his last game, Judge returned to the Yankees and brought their World Series hopes with him.

He might not have played exactly like Aaron Judge, but he looked enough like himself to inspire hope in what became a 5-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 46,211 who welcomed their captain back with a standing ovation — and even a few cheers after a strikeout, simply happy to be able to root for him again — on an 0-for-3 night.

“Excited that the wait is over,” Judge said after playing six innings in right field, an early exit for which he was “not happy.” He was removed for Heliot Ramos, who then smacked a three-run home run in the eighth.

Carried by Ramos’ blast, poor Colorado defense and Cam Schlittler’s seven overwhelming, one-run innings, the Yankees started a 19-game sprint to the end of the regular season on the right foot — a stretch that will be more of a speed walk, then jog, then sprint for No. 99.

After an expedited rehab process that did not include a trip to the minors, Judge is building up on the fly, which is a test for him and for Boone, who talked at length before Judge exited to start the seventh inning.

“I feel great. I played half a game, so I don’t know what to say about that,” Judge said after his first game since May 31. “I respect Boonie, so whatever he says I’m going to do, but I’m not happy about it. But that’s where my boy Ramos picked me up.”

Boone called Judge a “competitor” and did not seem surprised that the team’s and Judge’s discipline would be tested already.

“It’s my job to be smart here,” Boone said of pulling Judge, who likely will be off Wednesday or Thursday.

The club will ease back Judge, who looked imposing but also like a player who had not seen real pitching for months.

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He swung through a 2-2 four-seamer in the first and stared at another fastball for Strike 3 in the sixth, which sandwiched a flyout to right-center in the fourth.

“I just haven’t been in a live game or seen live pitching in three months, so it’s kind of like the start of the year. But I got work to do,” said Judge, whose self-restraint in protecting his rib went untested defensively because he did not field a ball. He will try not to dive, at least until the postseason.

There was reason for player and team to be cautious, with still plenty of unknowns regarding how long it will take for him to become an everyday force in the lineup.

But there also was reason for player and team to celebrate.

Judge had not played a game since the end of May, and a club with World Series expectations and aspirations did whatever it could to just tread water without him, finishing 45-39 without a slugger Boone called “the best hitter in the world” whose mere presence has an effect on the entire lineup.

The effect was not immediately present on a night that the first two Yankees runs, before Ramos’ swing, came with the Rockies’ help.

The go-ahead score arrived in the fifth, when Ryan McMahon roped a single to the right field corner with George Lombard Jr. on first.

There might have been a play at the plate, but right fielder Zac Veen did not play it cleanly off the wall.

The first run was more Little League: In the first, a Luis García Jr. bloop into shallow left-center was 1) booted by left fielder Jake McCarthy and then 2) ignored by Goodman, who did not seem to be paying attention as McCarthy lobbed a throw home, enabling Cody Bellinger to score from first.

The Yankees (82-62) remained four games behind the Rays in a race that felt a bit more real Tuesday.

“Off we go,” Boone said. “Obviously, excited to have our captain back.”