Brett Gardner’s sore left knee wasn’t healed enough for him to be in the starting lineup on Tuesday night but had progressed.

“I am available [Tuesday night],” said Gardner, who aggravated the injury diving for a ball Saturday against the Rockies. He was scratched from the lineup on Sunday and didn’t participate in Monday night’s 8-6 loss to the Twins or the Yankees’ 14-12 win Tuesday.

Mike Tauchman started in left for the third straight game. Tauchman entered Tuesday’s game in an 11-for-19 (.579) hot streak and went 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run Monday night. He went 2-for-5, drove in a run and scored a run Tuesday night.

“He is really playing a nice role for us right now,” Aaron Boone said of the left-handed hitting outfielder, who was acquired from the Rockies late in spring training.

In 49 games Tauchman is hitting .269 with six homers, 23 RBIs and has a .359 on-base percentage. Increasing his value was the ability to play all three outfield positions.

DJ LeMahieu was not in the Yankees’ starting lineup one game after going 1-for-4 with a homer and being atop the AL batting race with a .338 batting average. Boone started Gleyber Torres at second, Gio Urshela at third and Luke Voit at first.

“I knew this week, especially playing through the weekend, day games after the night game and the heat I knew there was one day I wanted to get him down,” said Boone, who inserted LeMahieu as a pinch runner for Voit in the eighth and used him at first to finish the game.

Asked if it was tough to sit LeMahieu, who has emerged as an AL MVP candidate, Boone was confident the players in the lineup were qualified to take up the slack.

“Is it tough? We are throwing really good players out there,” Boone said. “I think there is a lot of benefit a day [off] here and there.”

Corner outfielder Cameron Maybin started a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night and went 4-for-5 with a home run. The Yankees hope the right-handed hitter will be able to jump off the IL next week. He has been out since June 23 with a strained left calf.

“Whether it’s five or six games I am not really sure because he has to play a couple of spots in the outfield,” Boone said when asked how long Maybin will be with SWB. “Hopefully within a week he will be an option for us.”

Dellin Betances extended the distance he threw on flat ground Tuesday to 75 feet. He will repeat that Wednesday and there is a possibility he will move to 90 feet Thursday in Boston. Luis Severino also threw on flat ground on Tuesday.

Boone said he hasn’t talked to Giancarlo Stanton in a few days but the reports from Tampa were encouraging.

“The reports on his rehab [Monday] were really good,” Boone said of the left fielder, who has been limited to nine games this year and has been on the IL for the second time with a sprained right knee since June 26. “Hopefully pretty soon here we start to see some baseball activities.”