NEW YORK — The Yankees played their season-opening victory over the Brewers on Thursday with Brett Gardner and his family in mind. Gardner’s 14-year-old son, Miller, died last Friday after falling ill on a family vacation. Shortly before first pitch, all the joyous Opening Day festivities at Yankee Stadium came to a halt as a sellout crowd observed an emotional moment of silence. “It’s been devastating,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said during his pregame media session. “As much as the excitement of today, there’s no question we’ll be playing with heavy hearts today, and throughout the year and playing with Miller in mind.” Yankees captain Aaron Judge spoke about Gardner and what he means to him after the game, a 4-2 win over Milwaukee. “Even guys who aren’t on this team, I got a lot of phone calls and texts from other guys that we were young guys coming up,” Judge said. “What do we do? Do we reach out? What’s going on? Just because of the way that Brett impacted all our lives. He may not have been the big superstar with All-Stars, MVPs and this and that, but this guy was a leader of all of us, a second dad to some guys.” Judge and Gardner were very close when they crossed over as teammates from Judge’s debut in 2016 through Gardner’s last game in 2021. Judge even lived with Gardner at one point during his historic rookie year in 2017. The two-time MVP has been honoring Gardner in the outfield during roll call at Yankee Stadium over the last few years, immitating Gardner’s flex when saluting the Bleacher Creatures. “He poured everything into every single guy,” Judge added. “If we were having a tough time, he was always there for you to be someone to lean on, someone to joke on. So his family, they’ve all been on my mind.” Gardner and his wife, Jessica, announced that their son had passed away with a statement that was released by the Yankees this past Sunday. “We have so many questions and so few answers at this point,” the statement read. “Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile. He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, his family and his friends. He lived life to the fullest every single day.” Boone said his daughter, Bella, had a relationship with Gardner’s two sons. “To see how it impacts your kids, I think we can all imagine how difficult that is right now for the Gardner family,” Boone said. “So it’ll be with heavy hearts that we take the field today, and really all year. “I talk to our guys a lot about perspective. While this matters so much to us, it’s our livelihood, we pour so much into this, so many people care about it, it’s baseball. I really think it’s important we reflect on that every now and then when we get consumed with this. Whether we’re flying high, whether we’re going through some tough moments, like, man, there’s a lot more important things going on and meaningful things. It’s important to keep that perspective.” Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Max Goodman may be reached at mgoodman@njadvancemedia.com.