Paxton pitches another 12-K gem

James Paxton appears to have settled into the Yankees’ rotation.

After struggling in two of his f irst three starts since coming over from the Mariners in a trade during the offseason, the lefthander was superb for a second straight outing in Sunday’s 7-6, 10-inning win over the Royals.

He followed up his breakout performance against the Red Sox, when he blanked Boston over eight innings and struck out 12, with another gem. In six-plus scoreless innings, Paxton again didn’t allow a run and again whiffed a dozen.

This time, though, he did it without an overpowering fastball.

“Today was different,’’ Paxton said. “I didn’t have the super power fastball I had the other day. I threw a lot of off-speed stuff and was throwing that for strikes. I was working guys backwards; breaking stuff early, hard stuff late, keep guys guessing.”

Paxton pitched into the seventh before being chased by an Alex Gordon double and a four-pitch walk to Hunter Dozier to open the seventh.

Tommy Kahnle entered and retired the next three batters to preserve a five-run lead before Chad Green and Adam Ottavino spoiled it in the eighth, but Paxton remains confident in the bullpen.

“Today was tough for a couple of guys, but I think there’s gonna be a lot more good days than bad with this team,’’ Paxton said.

He was dominant for most of the outing, during which he became the second Yankee with 12 strikeouts in two straight starts. David Cone did it in 1998.

And Paxton buckled down when he needed to.

He allowed a leadoff single to Adalberto Mondesi in the fourth and Mondesi moved to second on a wild pitch before Paxton got Gordon looking for the first out. Mondesi swiped third, but Paxton responded by fanning Dozier on a 96-mph fastball up in the zone. He followed by getting Jorge Soler swinging to keep the Royals off the scoreboard.

Paxton credited an effective curveball, as well as Austin Romine, who also caught his game against Boston.

“It was another big-time effort by him,’’ Aaron Boone said.