Entering Thursday in the midst of a dream season, Luis Gil turned in a nightmare of a start.

A steamy late afternoon at Yankee Stadium didn’t get much better from there.

The Orioles ambushed Gil for seven runs on eight hits, knocking him out of the game before he could record a fifth out and setting the tone for a brutal 17-5 drubbing of the Yankees.

When the bloodbath was finally over, the Yankees (51-26) still led the Orioles (49-25) by a half-game atop the AL East, but Baltimore has now taken both series between the top two teams in the American League this season.

”It’s gonna be back and forth all the way to September, that’s for sure,” said Aaron Judge, who returned to the lineup after getting hit by a pitch on Tuesday and clubbed his 27th home run of the year. “I think we’re looking forward to having those battles back and forth. But what it really ultimately comes down to is us just taking care of ourselves. We go out there and play baseball the way we’re supposed to, clean it up on defense a little bit … we’ll take care of it and be where we want to be.”

The Orioles did what no other team has done this year by clobbering Gil, raising his ERA from 2.03 to 2.77 over the course of his 47-pitch outing.

The runs and hits surrendered were both career-highs, while Gil also walked a pair and hit a batter on a day when he simply did not have it.

The seven runs Gil allowed were the same amount he gave up across his previous nine starts combined.

“I felt like I let the team down today,” Gil, who tossed 6 ¹/₃ scoreless innings against the Orioles on May 1, said through an interpreter. “But we definitely have more games ahead of us and I’m sure we’re going to be able to turn the page on this one and improve. I believe in myself and I definitely believe in my teammates.”

By the time Aaron Boone finally put Gil out of his misery with one out in the second inning, the Orioles led 7-0 and still had the bases loaded.

Michael Tonkin spared Gil’s line from getting any worse, but the Orioles went on to rack up 19 hits overall.

The Yankees’ day also included three errors, Gleyber Torres exiting early with groin tightness and the bullpen continuing to show some more cracks.

Before catcher Jose Trevino had to pitch the ninth, five of their six relievers gave up at least one run as the Orioles continued to pile on.

The only bit of good news for the Yankees was Judge returning to the lineup for the first time since Tuesday.

His left hand looked just fine when he crushed a two-run shot in the third inning that pulled the Yankees within 8-3.

But that was as close as they would get.

In the Yankees’ 77th game of the year, it was the first time their starter did not complete at least four innings, snapping the longest single-season streak in franchise history.

Gil came into Thursday having made nine straight starts in which he threw at least five innings and allowed three or fewer runs, but he did not come anywhere close to that against the Orioles.

His first pitch of the day was roped for a double by Gunnar Henderson over the head of Juan Soto, and it only got worse from there.

After limiting the damage to one run in the first inning, he could not stop the bleeding in the second, when the big blow was Ryan Mountcastle’s three-run double down the left-field line.

“Not his day,” Boone said. “They came out really aggressive to the fastball in that first inning and took it away, got him out of the zone a little bit and then he made some mistakes in the heart of the plate with everything.”

In the process, the Orioles improved to 5-2 against the Yankees this season with two more head-to-head series to go.

“The first couple series, they’ve had their way with us,” Boone said. “They’ve had the upper hand. But there is a long way to go in all this. You never like losing, especially in your division and up against a team you’re battling neck and neck with. It’s also an opportunity to hopefully grow for us.”