MLB

Banged-up Yankees clinging to lead with Orioles coming to The Bronx

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Hiroki Kuroda pitched a seven-inning shutout on July 18 in a 6-0 victory over the Blue Jays, which extended the Yankees’ lead in the AL East to 10 games and seemed to have them ticketed for the postseason.

But instead of playing like a playoff-bound team since then, the Yankees have been the

model of mediocrity, and now their lead is down to three games over the Orioles, who begin a three-game series tonight in The Bronx.

“Baltimore is coming and we have a chance to push them back,” general manager Brian Cashman said. “Sure, they have a chance to gain ground on us, but that’s not the way we should be looking at it.”

It’s hard not to, because the Yankees are showing no signs of snapping out of their second-half funk. Still, the problems don’t have Cashman overly worried.

“You’re always concerned, whether you’re two [games] up or 10 up,” the Cashman said.

Cashman said he doesn’t believe the team’s extensive injuries have taken a toll on the mentality of the players.

“Not at all,” Cashman said “So what? We have to get going and be ready with who we have. We can’t just wait for everything to go our way. We have to make it happen.”

This would be a good weekend for that to start. The Orioles aren’t fading and Tampa Bay, who the Yankees visit starting Monday, are right behind them.

Nevertheless, just because Cashman doesn’t want to hear it, the players aren’t immune to what’s going on around them — particularly in the middle of the lineup with Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira out.

“I know everybody seems to be really hard on Alex, but I don’t think his importance to our team is understood,” Chavez said. “When he went down, that’s really what changed everything for us. He spreads out the lineup and takes pressure off everybody. When he’s not there, everyone feels it.”

That blow was just one of many, and Chavez said it has made their task more challenging.

“What we’ve been doing the whole year is putting band aids on things, right from the beginning,” Chavez said. “We’ve done a great job, but it’s not easy replacing some of these guys. Sometimes I look and say, ‘How are we doing it?’ ”

If all goes as planned, the Yankees won’t have to ask as many questions in September. Rodriguez could return as soon as next week.

“Obviously, this is going to be the biggest month of the year, so we need these guys back,” Chavez said. “If that happens, it would give us the biggest boost and we’d get some momentum.”

Something they haven’t had in a while.

“Look at our lineup [Tuesday, with Steve Pearce batting cleanup and Russell Martin fifth],” Chavez said. “Who would have imagined us putting up that lineup a couple of months ago? And we’re still in first place.”

Despite their issues, the Yankees have been by themselves on top of the division every day since June 12. That won’t matter much if they let the rest of their lead disappear — regardless of who’s on the field.

“Everybody talks about me and [Jayson] Nix doing a great job, but what made that special was we didn’t need it,” Chavez said. “We got our production from the middle of the order. Everything else was just extra. When you start taking away those pieces, what we were doing goes from icing on the cake to a necessity. It definitely makes things even tougher.”

Chavez, though, said he is able to see light at the end of the tunnel.

“You can look at it as we’re holding our head above water, but if we can do it for another two weeks here, it could be really good,” Chavez said. “We’ll be that much stronger and healthier when it matters most.”

dan.martin@nypost.com