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TORONTO — Mickey, Willie and … The Brett!

For one day, Brett Gardner took over for Duke Snider in the lyrical trilogy of outstanding New York center fielders.

Gardner, of course, isn’t joining Snider in the Hall of Fame, but the show he put on Saturday at Rogers Centre against the Blue Jays was worthy of being compared to Mantle, Mays and Snider and carried the Yankees to a 13-3 victory in front of 26,308.

After an RBI double in the second inning, Gardner opened the fourth with a home run that reached the seats above the center-field wall and added a three-run homer in the fifth. To complete the day, Gardner crashed into the left-center field wall to rob Danny Jansen of an extra-base hit in the fifth with a runner on first and no outs.

What did he like more, the two homers or the sensational catch with the Yankees leading by five?

“That’s a tough question. If you said one homer and the catch I would probably go with the catch, but I will take the two homers, I guess,’’ said Gardner, who has a career-high 25 home runs — the result of him attempting to drive the ball more than in other years but not necessarily to hit homers. “One of the things that allowed me to get to the big leagues and has allowed me to stay here as long as I have is my defense, so any time I make a play to impact the game, obviously get fired up about that.’’

Brett GardnerAPBrett GardnerAP

Gleyber Torres (37) and Luke Voit (21) hit back-to-back homers in the sixth when the Yankees stretched the lead to 9-1. Torres homered an inning after appearing to hurt his left leg fielding a ground ball in the hole at short. He was replaced by Tyler Wade in the home sixth. Afterward, manager Aaron Boone and Torres said he was fine. Mike Ford provided a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the ninth.

On a day when his stuff wasn’t crisp, James Paxton did nothing to hurt his chances of being the Yankees’ Game 1 starter in the ALDS by winning his ninth straight start and improving to 14-6. Paxton, who last lost on July 26, allowed a run, three hits and struck out three.

“Grinding it out. I didn’t have a lot in the tank today,’’ said Paxton, who required 31 pitches in the first inning, when he gave up a run. “It was one of those days. I had to pitch differently today.’’

Overshadowed by Gardner’s outstanding game and the five Yankees homers was DJ LeMahieu going 4-for-6.

The eighth win in 11 games shaved the 98-52 Yankees’ magic number over second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East to four, pending the outcome of the Rays-Angels game Saturday night in Anaheim.

The Yankees started Saturday’s action with a major league-leading 280 home runs and pushed that to 285, which is 18 more than the 267 they hit last year — then a major league record.

Aaron Hicks was supposed to be the Yankees’ regular center fielder and has played 59 games. Giancarlo Stanton was going to be the left fielder and he has played nine. Gardner has played 129, and with Mike Tauchman done for the year will be in the middle of the Yankees’ October outfield.

“He continues to have a great year. Obviously the home runs were huge and the play he made at the fence kind of tilted the game a different way,’’ Boone said of Gardner. “He hasn’t stopped being a good player. We wouldn’t be this well off without him.’’

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