Vet Gardner stays on ‘role’ for Bombers

For a guy who didn’t know how he would fit in at the beginning of the year, Brett Gardner has certainly found his place once again with the Yankees.

Gardner had his three-game home run streak come to an end Friday night, but he showed no signs of faltering as the Yankees began the second half of their regular season with a 4-0 win over Toronto in The Bronx.

He doubled, tripled, scored and had a key assist from left field. The performance was more of the same for the 35-year-old Gardner, who is on pace for his lowest strikeout rate of any full season in his career, coupled with more extra-base hits.

And he has played about twice as many games as any other Yankees outfielder, with the unit beset by injuries.

“I show up and do my job,’’ Gardner said. “It doesn’t matter where I’m playing, where I’m hitting in the lineup.”

Gardner hit ninth on Friday and each of his past six hits have been for extra bases.

With Giancarlo Stanton nowhere near returning from a knee injury and Clint Frazier stuck in the minors, Gardner isn’t likely to go anywhere.

“I kind of knew what I signed up for,’’ Gardner said of what his mindset was before the season, when Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Aaron Judge — and perhaps even Frazier — were in line to take time away from him.

“I mean, I wasn’t sure what I signed up for in offseason, I guess, but I knew it could be a different kind of role,’’ Gardner said. “Obviously, I’m happy to be getting playing time, but when we’re at full speed we’ve got a really dangerous team and wherever I fit in, I’ll be happy to be part of a winning team.”

When — or if — they get healthy is anyone’s guess. But like many others, Gardner has made the loss of so many outfielders tolerable.

On Friday, he started a four-run rally that put the Yankees ahead in the bottom of the fifth with a triple down the right-field line to lead off the inning. Gardner scored on DJ LeMahieu’s groundout for the game’s first run before the Yankees tacked on three more off Toronto right-hander Aaron Sanchez.

An inning later, Gardner had a one-out double when he hit a grounder past a shifted Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at third. With the outfielders playing deep, Gardner made it to second easily. His speed played a factor again later in the inning when Toronto catcher Danny Jansen tried to throw behind Gardner to pick him off at second, but his throw went into center, allowing Gardner to get to third.

And when it seemed the Blue Jays might have a chance to get back in the game in the seventh, as Tommy Kahnle came in and gave up consecutive singles to Cavan Biggio and Guerrero, Gardner made a strong throw from left to get Guerrero at second for the first out of the inning.