The Yankees opened Sunday with a 10-game lead in the AL East that they built in little more than a month.

Before their series finale against the Rockies, with the Yankees looking for their sixth straight win, Aaron Boone was asked how his team would be able to maintain an edge as the Rays and Red Sox kept falling further behind them in the division.

“I don’t worry so much about that,’’ Boone said of his team. “They’re hungry. It’s on all of us to make sure we remain that way.”

But on a second straight day when the game time temperature was 94 degrees in The Bronx, the Yankees finally turned in a clunker, losing 8-4 to Colorado, which snapped a six-game losing streak with the victory.

Afterward, the Yankees headed to Minnesota for a series against the AL Central-leading Twins before a visit to Boston.

“We’ve got a big week, a big road trip,’’ Brett Gardner said. “It’s still July, but we’ve been playing good baseball, so it’s important we continue to do that.”

That means putting Sunday’s dud behind them.

James Paxton’s streak of three straight good starts came to a screeching halt.

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He allowed a leadoff homer for a second consecutive outing, as Charlie Blackmon went deep on Paxton’s second pitch of the game Sunday after Tampa Bay’s Travis d’Arnaud homered to start Paxton’s previous start.

He lasted just 3 ¹/₃ innings and allowed seven runs — four earned.

“I lost my rhythm a little bit,’’ Paxton said. “I didn’t locate very well and was falling behind.”

And while Boone said the weather might have been a factor, Paxton declined to use that as an excuse.

“It was hot, but everyone was playing in the same weather,’’ the left-hander said.

Following DJ LeMahieu’s homer on the first pitch by Colorado right-hander German Marquez, the Yankees’ bats stalled.

They didn’t get another hit until Mike Tauchman homered with two outs in the fifth against Marquez, who allowed 11 runs in just 2 ²/₃ innings against the Giants in his previous outing, but tossed seven effective innings Sunday.

Paxton was no match.

The Rockies loaded the bases with no one out in the third with a walk to Chris Iannetta, Tony Wolters reaching on an error by Luke Voit at first on a sacrifice-bunt attempt and a liner to center by Blackmon.

Voit’s miscue helped lead to three unearned runs.

After falling behind Trevor Story 2-0, Paxton came back and struck him out for the first out of the inning.

Nolan Arenado, though, smacked a double to left to drive in two runs and give Colorado a 3-1 lead.

Later in the inning, David Dahl’s bases-loaded single drove in two more runs before Paxton finally got out of the 39-pitch inning.

He was pulled after a walk and one out single in the fourth, his second-shortest outing as a Yankee.

Chad Green came in and gave up a two-run ground-rule double to Story, as Colorado went up 7-1.

Colorado tacked on a run in the eighth and Aaron Hicks’ two-run homer off Scott Oberg in the bottom of the frame got the Yankees to within 8-4, but Yankee lineup, which had scored at least five runs in each of the last five games, wasn’t able to rally and they finished their homestand 7-3.

They quickly turned their focus to the Twins.

“It’s going to be a fun week,’’ Voit said. “We’ve got to get off to a good start in Minnesota. I know they’re going to bring their best.’’

Boone called the Twins “a force right now in the American League.’’

The Yankees are clearly a force, as well.

They just didn’t look like it on Sunday.