TORONTO — Giancarlo Stanton signled to lead off the top of the ninth Monday and there was no doubt what was going to happen next: Stanton was going to exit the game for a pinch runner and that pinch runner was going to be Tim Locastro.

And with Toronto right-hander Yimi Garcia on the mound, it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened.

“I’m always ready to run from the first pitch, and on the third or fourth pitch I got what I wanted,’’ Locastro said after the Yankees’ 10th-straight win, a victory that came after Locastro scored the go-ahead run later in the ninth in a 3-2 win at Rogers Centre.

“I got to second base because that’s my job,’’ Locastro said. “I got the job done.”

The speedy Locastro then came around easily on Gleyber Torres’ two-out single to center.

Despite having just 15 plate appearances — and two hits — Locastro has scored eight runs, more than Joey Gallo, Kyle Higashioka, Stanton and Torres.

In some ways, he’s filling the role served by Tyler Wade and Brett Gardner in recent years — and as long as the Yankees remain healthy, figures to keep doing so.

“That was a big steal,’’ Aaron Boone said of Monday’s swipe. “He’s been fearless. [Wade] was so good in that role last year — similar to Timmy this year.”

But Locastro is even more of a base-stealing threat.

He’s got four this season entering Tuesday and is 35-for-39 in his career.

“I’ve been in this role a long time, like six or seven years,’’ Locastro said. “I just try to stay ready to go.”

The 29-year-old Locastro first emerged as a base-stealing threat as a junior at Ithaca College, where he played Division III baseball in upstate New York. After swiping just seven bases as a sophomore, Locastro stole 40 as a junior.

That helped him get drafted in the 13th round by the Blue Jays and traded to the Dodgers in 2015.

After getting to the majors for the first time with Los Angeles in 2017, Locastro was designated for assignment and traded to the Yankees in 2018 before being shipped to Arizona in the same offseason.

He set the MLB record for most stolen bases without being caught to start a career (28), breaking Tim Raines’ mark and was traded back to the Yankees last July in exchange for minor league pitching prospect Keegan Curtis.

But Locastro played in just nine games with the Yankees before he tore his ACL trying to make a catch later in July.

Locastro opened this season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, as the Yankees started the year with 16 pitchers and just 12 position players, going with Marwin Gonzalez as the lone utility player in the season’s first few weeks.

With Wade now with the Angels after being a roster casualty last offseason in preparation for a Rule 5 draft that ended up being canceled because of the MLB lockout, and Gardner still without a job, Locastro has an important job in The Bronx.

“He’s got really good instincts,’’ Jordan Montgomery said of Locastro, who noted that’s a main part of why he’s dangerous on the base paths.

Asked what makes a good base-stealer, Locastro said, “Speed, good instincts and helping the team win. That’s it.”