DUNEDIN, Fla. — It was all set up for the Yankees to make the Blue Jays sweat this one out.

And then it wasn’t.

After their sluggish offense finally started to come alive in the eighth inning, bringing the tying run to the plate, the Yankees found a new way to end a rally when Gary Sanchez got caught off first base on a wild pitch in a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.

The Yankees scored a pair of runs on a sharp Giancarlo Stanton single to get to within three runs, and after Sanchez followed with a two-out walk, Aaron Hicks came up.

Julian Merryweather’s second pitch briefly got away from catcher Danny Jansen, but Jansen pounced on it. Sanchez was caught between first and second, and was tagged out by shortstop Bo Bichette.

“I think he knew he had second base,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “Giancarlo was going to third and had a little hesitation on his trek to third and that distracted Gary. It’s a ball, obviously, he could have moved up on.”

Instead, the inning was over.

“I was the tying run and I want to come up big there, and I wasn’t about to get the chance,’’ Hicks said.

“We got ourselves back in the game with a chance and anytime you make a mistake when you’re climbing back in a game, it’s frustrating,’’ Boone said.

That ended the best chance of the night for the Yankees, who couldn’t get anything going against Toronto starter Hyun Jin Ryu, while their own starter, Jameson Taillon, got knocked around for five runs on eight hits in 3 ²/₃ innings in his second start back following his second Tommy John surgery.

There were long stretches without Yankees baserunners, and there were three more double plays when they did get runners on. They’ve hit into an MLB-high 14 twin-killings this season.

“We’ve had our really good games and some mistakes,’’ DJ LeMahieu said. “I feel our mistakes right now are pretty glaring in some of our losses. That’s baseball.”

Boone said the Yankees’ lack of speed and penchant for hitting hard ground balls means they’re “gonna hit into our fair share of double plays. I just want us to collectively be grinding pitchers down. That’s when we’re at our best.”

That’s what they were doing when Hicks got to the plate after he had drilled a double in his previous at-bat.

They rallied with hits from some of their batters who had been stuck in the worst slumps. Clint Frazier led off the eighth with a lined single to center that hit ex-Yankee David Phelps in the back, forcing the pitcher from the game.

After Jay Bruce struck out against Jordan Romano, LeMahieu doubled to left-center, sending Frazier to third. Stanton — like Frazier, in an extended hitless streak until the eighth — then ripped a single to center to drive in both runners, bringing the Yankees to within 6-3.

Aaron Judge flied to right for the second out before Sanchez walked to end Romano’s night.

But that’s as close as the Yankees got, and they slipped back under .500 (5-6).

It was also a discouraging second start back for Taillon, who missed most of 2019 and all of last season following a second Tommy John surgery in August 2019.

After an eight-pitch first inning, Taillon loaded the bases with two out in the second.

He was unable to put hitters away with two strikes, including hitting Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. with an 0-2 fastball and giving up a two-run single to Josh Palacios on another two-strike pitch in the 34-pitch inning.

Meanwhile, Ryu retired 12 in a row at one point.

“Just like me at the plate, I know the team is gonna start clicking here,’’ LeMahieu said. “I hope it’s sooner rather than later. I know we’re close.”