MIAMI — The dream matchup wasn’t to be. The Home Run Derby was still a resounding hit on a night full of long balls and close battles by some of baseball’s best sluggers.

The drama started early Monday at Marlins Park when defending champion Giancarlo Stanton took too long to find his groove and exited in the first round, falling one homer short of Gary Sanchez in the first round.

That opened the door for young Yankees slugger Aaron Judge to become the new king of the long ball, thrilling a crowd of 37,027.

Judge, who like Stanton is from southern California and even bigger, sent balls to parts of he park the Marlins’ four-time All-Star hasn’t reached. Judge drove back-to-back shots of 504 and 513 feet in the semifinals.

He put away Miguel Sano in the final 11-10, calling it a halt with two of his allotted four minutes remaining.

The 6-foot-8 Judge had to fend off a high-level challenge by the other Marlin in the field, Justin Bour, in a first-round thriller to avoid the same fate as Stanton.

That would be the toughest test of the night for the young slugger, who is having a dream season, leading the majors with 30 home runs at the break.

Judge dispatched Dodgers Rookie of the Year candidate Cody Bellinger in the semifinals, stopping with a minute remaining after pulling ahead 14-13.

He cheered on Sano in the final. But after the Minnesota Twins third baseman managed only 10 homers to open the round, all that remained was a coronation for Judge.

He barely broke a sweat in completing the ascension.

“I had a lot of fun. I hope the fans enjoyed the show, it was an awesome atmosphere.” Judge said. “Everyone put on a show here.”

Only Bour was able to stretch him to the limit. Bour pounded 22 homers, the fourth-highest total in one round of in derby history at that point. A few minutes later Judge bettered it.

Judge needed every second of his four-minute session and a 30-second bonus round to push his total to 23. Hitters received the bonus for two or more homers 440 feet or longer.

“Bour put on a show for these fans. They enjoyed it,” Judge said. “I was just trying to do the same thing.”

Judge hit one 501 feet that sailed completely over the home run sculpture in left-center in the opening round. Another that may have been destined to go even farther hit the roof and didn’t count.

Stanton, who hit a record 61 homers over three rounds in winning at San Diego, had already been relegated to valet for teammate Bour, bringing him an energy-boosting doughnut during a timeout.

Prior to the derby, Stanton shrugged off the Marlins’ late return from the weekend series in San Francisco, arriving in South Florida at about 5 a.m. Monday. He appeared weary during the media day session.

“A couple of hours of sleep,” he said. “Doesn’t matter. We all got to call time out there. Doesn’t matter. We’re all going to show up.”

Sanchez threw down the gauntlet for Stanton with 17 long balls, many of them very long. The Yankees catcher hit only 13 homers in the first half of the season, due to missing nearly a month to a biceps injury. That led to the Tampa Bay Rays’ Logan Morrison questioning his inclusion in the derby.

But Sanchez’s power is legitimate. His average homer length this season of 427 feet leads the majors among players with 10 or more, and his average exit velocity of 93.5 mph also tops Stanton’s.

Sanchez smacked nine balls longer than 440 feet. He hit three off the exterior windows, with a long of 483 feet.

Stanton hit five balls longer than 485 feet, topping out with a 496-footer off the back window. He had the top exit velocity at 121 mph to Sanchez’s 116, but he hit a lot of high drives that fell in the outer reaches of the outfield.

Stanton approached the plate with bat held above his head to a huge roar. But he had trouble getting the ball off the ground initially, starting with four grounders before putting his first homer into the bushes in center field. He took an early timeout at the 2:31 mark with only four homers on the board.

He got rolling with three in a row after the break and had a stretch of four consecutive as he attempted the late rally. He went into the bonus round needing two to tie, but visibly gassed, he couldn’t muster the equalizer as the clock ran out.

Every match going into the final was decided by one homer.

Asked before the contest about what it took to win the derby, Stanton said, “Bring your stamina, because it’s a lot of swings, and just have a good formula for when you’re getting tired and when you’ve got to take your breaks.”

Ultimately, Judge had the muscle and the stamina to win with ease.