CLEVELAND — For most of this young season, the Yankees have looked nothing like a team that’s going to make it to the playoffs, let alone contend for a championship.

There’s been a lack of timely hitting, poor starting pitching and bad fielding and fundamentals.

Though that all continued in the first inning Thursday, the rest of the game reminded everyone what the Yankees might be in their 6-3 comeback victory over the Indians at Progressive Field.

“Tonight we showed what we are,’’ said Gleyber Torres, who had three hits. “I believe in this team. [Friday] we’ll have the same mentality. We take advantage of every opportunity.”

The Yankees entered having lost six of seven and quickly found themselves down by three runs after an abysmal first inning.

However, they came up with three runs in the third before Rougned Odor delivered a much-needed two-out hit to put the Yankees ahead in the seventh.

“We’ve been searching for that big hit for a while now,’’ Aaron Boone said. “To deliver it there was huge.”

The two-run single provided the first lead, and Domingo German’s ability to recover after his dismal opening frame — plus three more scoreless innings from the bullpen — gave the Yankees a victory to open an eight-game road trip.

It came on a night in which Boone shook up the last-place Yankees’ lineup again, with Brett Gardner leading off, Mike Ford batting cleanup and Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez both out, as Boone said they were normal days off.

“That first inning, with what we’ve been going through, we didn’t let it snowball,’’ Boone said. “I thought the guys did a really good job and kept competing. … We came through with things that had been a struggle for us.”

Aaron Judge started the go-ahead rally with a one-out walk off Nick Wittgren. Ford whiffed, but Torres ripped a single to center and Aaron Hicks walked on four pitches to bring up Odor, who was in a 1-for-20 skid.

He pounced on a 2-0 fastball and drilled it up the middle to score two runs and give the Yankees their first lead.

“We have to change it around,’’ Hicks said before the game. “We’re last in the AL East and we’re not that kind of team.”

They showed signs of that Thursday — after the first, which captured the last week or so nicely for the Yankees, as they fell behind 3-0.

Brett Gardner dropped what should have been a sliding catch of a Cesar Hernandez liner to left and Jose Ramirez just beat Clint Frazier’s throw to second for a double. Ford couldn’t handle an Eddie Rosario grounder that was ruled an RBI single. German followed by being unable to handle a comebacker from Franmil Reyes, allowing another run to score on the error. Josh Naylor’s single to right put Cleveland ahead by three runs before German finally got out of the inning.

The Yankees managed to tie the game in the third against right-hander Aaron Civale, with some assistance from shoddy defense by the Indians.

Kyle Higashioka led off with a double and scored on DJ LeMahieu’s single. Ford walked and Torres singled to right-center, where Naylor mishandled the ball, allowing a second run to score on the play to make it 3-3.

Then Odor finally came through in the seventh, and Higashioka’s homer to center to lead off the eighth made it 6-3.

German, in his first start since April 10, when he was optioned following his second start of the season, ended up with a solid outing. He pitched five scoreless innings following the unsightly first and retired the final seven batters he faced.

Yet it was the six runs scored — on 11 hits and nine walks — that also stood out.

“That’s a hallmark of our success,’’ Boone said of the base runners. “Giving ourselves opportunities. I think eventually our power is gonna show up. That’s who we are. That’s who we have to be.”