TORONTO — The instant outrage — the easy second guess — will be to wonder why Joe Girardi took out Ivan Nova after he walked Russell Martin with two out in the sixth of what was a scoreless game.

Nova was at 110 pitches, he has Tommy John surgery in his recent past and the Yankees manager did not want to push any further.

You want to argue he should have left Nova in for the next batter and assumed the righty would get an out. Fine. Life is easier in a 20/20 hindsight world. But the reality is that without Andrew Miller available (42 pitches the previous night) and, therefore, with Justin Wilson and Dellin Betances earmarked for the eighth and ninth innings, Girardi ultimately was going to need relievers who failed him by the seventh inning anyway.

Obviously, it is no good that Girardi essentially is holding a middle-inning tryout camp to see whom he can trust at this late date, doing it with relievers who probably are only here because rosters are expanded in September. So James Pazos and Caleb Cotham — who spent the majority of their seasons at either Double- or Triple-A — conspired to let Martin score in the sixth. Andrew Bailey, just now getting back from a two-year shoulder surgery rehab, allowed a three-run Martin homer in the seventh.

And if you want to home in on Girardi’s bullpen maneuverings to explain the 4-0 setback that pretty much sewed up the AL East for Toronto, then fine. But it means you are focusing on the “four” on the scoreboard and not the “zero.”

Look, Toronto starter Marcus Stroman throws hard watermelon seeds, the ball slipping and darting all over the place. In a season of great rebounds, the Long Island righty is the AL Comeback Player of the Year. When he tore his ACL in spring, he was declared out for the season and now he looks like the No. 2 starter for a playoff series.

Still, Toronto is not going to be squelched in its ballpark, so you’d better find a way to counter offensively. The Blue Jays — even without Troy Tulowitzki — are a demolition crew. They have 105 more runs than the second-place team and, at Rogers Centre, they only turn more frightening.

That second-place team in runs scored, though, is the Yankees. It might be a distant second, but it is still second.

It is, however, trending in the wrong direction. The Yanks are just 12th in runs in September. If the Yanks are going to secure the top wild-card spot and make a run in the playoffs, they are going to need better.

And there are issues right now. First, the non-contending White Sox decided to insert Frankie Montas to make his major league debut Wednesday against Detroit to push dynamic ace Chris Sale back to open Thursday’s series in The Bronx. He is one of three southpaws — with Carlos Rodon and John Danks — whom the White Sox will start in the four-game series against the heavily lefty-leaning Yankees at a time when the righty bats of Alex Rodriguez and switch-hitter Chase Headley have been mainly unplugged.

Just as troubling is that Brett Gardner’s second-half swoon has persisted, so the Yankees are not getting the catalytic impact from the 1-2 of Jacoby Ellsbury and Gardner.

Girardi has made one concession to offense late this season, using the defensively suspect Dustin Ackley at second to get his bat in the lineup. But after the Yankees fell 3½ back of Toronto, the Yankees manager did not sound as if he were considering any other shuffles and definitively stated Gardner “is the No. 2 hitter and I am sticking with that.”

In May, I would agree with him. That is when you want to invest faith in players, believing in big-picture rewards. The season is short now, just barely a week left in the regular season. Heck, Girardi has described the past few weeks as essentially playoff baseball for the Yankees, and in the playoffs, you favor the in-the-moment hot hands.

So I think Girardi should: 1) Consider Didi Gregorius for the No. 2 spot, recognizing that he has found a second wind at a time when Gardner’s second half — except for a brief wake-up last week against Toronto — has been a black hole. 2) Make Carlos Beltran the No. 3 batter. He has been the Yankees’ best hitter for an extended period. So he must bat in the first inning and be assured more frequent at-bats. 3) Drop Headley to ninth in the order. The oomph seems to have gone out of his bat, and that he is hitting ahead of Ackley and Gregorius doesn’t make sense right now.

What would make sense is some action from the manager, even with so little time left in the season. It doesn’t sound like that is going to happen.