After a third straight loss and seventh in nine games since their 13-game winning streak, Anthony Rizzo said, “We’d rather struggle now than later on in the year. We’ve got four weeks left to get it rolling.”

And if they don’t, there might not be anything beyond the regular season.

With the AL East title becoming more and more of a pipe dream, the Yankees figure to be in a fight for the top wild-card spot so they can host the AL wild-card game next month.

But the Red Sox will have plenty to say about that — and the Blue Jays may play a role in whether the Yankees get to the postseason at all, as Toronto has won five straight and eight of nine to become a very real postseason threat. The Yankees remained a half-game up on the Red Sox for the top wild-card spot after Boston blew a six-run lead and lost in 10 innings to the Rays, 11-10. The Red Sox were 2 ¹/₂ games up on the Mariners, who played Monday night, three up on the Blue Jays and 3 ¹/₂ ahead of Oakland as the wild-card race has suddenly tightened.

Having dropped two of three to the woeful Orioles over the weekend, the Yankees were shut down for most of Monday by left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu, who allowed just three hits in six scoreless innings before being removed because of stiffness in his left arm.

But even that was not enough to help the Yankees’ anemic offense, which got just one runner in scoring position, and saw the struggling Joey Gallo strike out in all four of his at-bats. They wasted a solid outing by Jameson Taillon, who rebounded after allowing two solo home runs in the first.

“These are big-time games,’’ Aaron Boone said. “We need to dig ourselves out of the funk we’ve been in for a week. We will pull out of it. We need to get it going.”

Coming off two straight subpar outings, Taillon gave up back-to-back solo homers to Marcus Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the top of the first.

The right-hander pitched around a combined three errors by Gio Urshela (who made a pair) and Gleyber Torres in the first three innings.

Ryu, who had a no-hitter until the sixth inning in his previous start against Baltimore, retired the first seven Yankees he faced until Brett Gardner singled up the middle with one out in the third. Urshela and DJ LeMahieu grounded out to strand Gardner.

Taillon, meanwhile, was solid after the first. He had a 10-pitch fourth, a six-pitch fifth and a seven-pitch sixth and didn’t allow a base runner in that stretch, helping save a depleted bullpen.

Rizzo singled the other way to start the bottom of the fifth after a nine-pitch at-bat. Ryu set the next three batters down with ease.

Urshela opened the bottom of the sixth with a base hit and was immediately erased by a LeMahieu double play.

Taillon retired 10 straight after Urshela’s second error, but he gave up a leadoff walk to Teoscar Hernandez in the seventh. Hernandez stole second on a Corey Dickerson strikeout and scored on Gurriel’s single to center to make it 3-0.

Gurriel’s hit was the first given up by Taillon since Guerrero’s homer in the first.

Toronto removed Ryu after six dominant scoreless innings for Trevor Richards, who struck out Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. Rizzo reached on a bunt single, but Gary Sanchez popped out.

Because Boone said the taxed bullpen “was up against it,” he went to Brooks Kriske in the ninth for his first appearance since throwing four wild pitches in an inning on July 22.

This time, the right-hander allowed a leadoff homer to Hernandez and then a grand slam to Semien later in the inning — making that 13-game winning streak even more of a distant memory.

“When you’re winning, you never think you’re gonna lose,’’ Rizzo said. “When you get in a little rut, it’s hard to get out of it.”

Especially when you don’t hit.

Gallo remains at the top of the list and Boone hinted that the lefty-swinging slugger might sit Tuesday against left-hander Steven Matz and be dropped in the order when he’s in the lineup.

“It feels like he’s pressing a little bit too much,’’ the manager said.

On Tuesday, they’ll turn to Gerrit Cole, who almost single-handedly ended their four-game skid last week.

“It felt like, for a little while there, we really couldn’t lose if we tried,’’ Taillon said. “We can still put together a good streak. It can start [Tuesday]. We’ve got Gerrit Cole on the mound. That’s a great place to start.”