PeakDash

Say this for Sonny Gray: This wasn’t the greatest start, but this was a start. This is all about his mental approach, upping his competitive level within the game, which had to be done.

Don’t collapse in the hard times.

Sure, Gray is still not at a place where anyone would be comfortable with him starting a postseason game for the Yankees, but at least he made progress Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

Gray surrendered three runs — one home run and two earned runs — over 5 ¹/₃ innings in a 7-6 win in the Subway Series, a game a wild Aroldis Chapman tried to give back to the woeful Mets. Gray allowed three hits and three walks while striking out six.

But this performance was about his head, not his arm as he evened his record at 7-7.

“You go through things at times and it’s how you respond,’’ Gray said, beginning to empty his baseball soul to a couple of reporters in the Yankees clubhouse. “I feel like I’m a realistic person, I can read the writing on the wall. I feel like I’m somewhat of a smart guy. I’m not a baseball player. I’m a human being that plays baseball.

“It’s the old cliché, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,’’ he added. “When I say I’m learning to flush it and go to the next hitter I’m not letting things get to me.

“You have to learn to control it within the game and that is very challenging.’’

That is part of the test of performing well in this city.

Gray has made the same mistakes over and over in his starts. That’s how you wind up surrendering 12 runs to the Red Sox over his two starts and pitch only a combined 5 ¹/₃ innings, or the five runs he surrendered to the Blue Jays in two innings two starts ago.

In his previous outing, Gray held the hapless Orioles scoreless over six innings. Saturday he could not get 18 outs against the Mets, but he did get 16. Again.

That’s the kind of start that can free him mentally.

A scout at the game offered this evaluation to The Post of Gray’s performance: “Fair. He made some pitches. The way he has been throwing, he should consider it a good outing and something to build on.’’

Good vibes.

Noted Aaron Boone: “I didn’t think he was necessarily great today, but that is the kind of outing you want to see. When Sonny is not at his best, he should still be able to go out and pitch like he did today, into the sixth inning, probably a pitch or two away from getting through six innings unscathed.

“What I liked,’’ Boone said, “was that it wasn’t a perfect outing for him, but he was still really competitive.’’

Be competitive.

There is such a long way to go for Gray, and yes, he was facing a watered-down Mets lineup. Yoenis Cespedes did not participate because of his calcified heels and the Mets were down to 19 bodies because of the trade of Jeurys Familia to the A’s and the high pitch counts of Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman in the 7-5 win Friday night.

Two of those bodies were center fielder Matt den Dekker, who does not have a batting average and hit eighth, and Jose Reyes and his anemic (what’s he doing here?) .177 average, who batted ninth.

This was not like facing an American League lineup. This was not like facing a postseason lineup.

Gray also benefited from the generous strike zone of home plate umpire Larry Vanover, who tossed Mets hitting coach Pat Roessler in the third inning. Then in the fifth, DH Asdrubal Cabrera was ejected by third base ump Hunter Wendelstedt for arguing a checked-swing strikeout.

So Gray had a lot in his favor, but was working on nine days rest, which is never easy to do. Don’t forget Gray has failed to go even five innings in seven of his 19 starts this season.

Sonny Gray showed some backbone. That is a good start.

ncG1vNJzZmimqaW8tMCNnKamZ2Jlfnl7j3Bma2lfqbWmecWiqaysXai2qLqMrZ%2BarF2ovK%2B62Gaeq5mpYrqixYybnGaspae7qrrGZphmm5%2Bnu6a%2Bjg%3D%3D