NEW YORK — For the second start in a row, Gerrit Cole was burned by the long ball.

The Yankees ace surrendered three more home runs in Saturday’s 12-2 loss to the Mets in the Bronx and has now served up seven homers over his last two outings.

Francisco Lindor, Luis Torrens and Carson Benge all took Cole deep during a lopsided afternoon in which the Mets erupted for six home runs.

The Yankees’ bullpen, meanwhile, gave up a solo home run to Juan Soto — his first at Yankee Stadium since leaving for the Mets after the 2024 season — and a grand slam to Lindor, who recorded his second multi-homer game of the year.

Cole allowed four solo homers in his previous start last Sunday in San Diego, including back-to-back-to-back blasts to begin that day’s 4-3 loss.

Saturday marked the second straight start in which Cole gave up a home run to the game’s first batter, as Lindor led off the top of the first by pulling an 85.8-mph change-up into the right-field porch.

Torrens followed with a two-run homer off of a 97.7-mph Cole fastball with two outs in third.

And in the fourth, Benge got just enough of a hanging, 89.5-mph slider and drove it 368 feet into the first row of the stands in right-center — a drive that would not have been a home run at any other ballpark, per MLB’s Statcast.

All told, the Mets tagged Cole for five runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings and recorded 14 batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.

Cole recorded only three swings and misses. He entered Saturday with a 22.3% whiff percentage, his lowest rate since 2016.

After giving up only 13 home runs over his first 18 starts, Cole has now allowed seven homers over his last 11 1/3 innings.

It’s a sudden rough stretch in what has largely been a successful comeback season for Cole, who returned in May after missing all of last season due to Tommy John surgery.

Cole fell Saturday to 8-9 with a 3.67 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 115 1/3 innings over 20 starts.

The Yankees are counting on Cole, 36, to be a headliner in a star-powered rotation — along with Cam Schlittler, Max Fried and Rodón — that’s designed to give them a big advantage in any short series.

But with only 14 games remaining in the regular season, Cole likely has only two more starts to straighten out his home-run woes before the playoffs.

Cole was out-pitched Saturday by rookie Mets left-hander Zac Thornton, who limited the Yankees to two runs over seven innings.

Like Cole, the 24-year-old Thornton allowed four home runs in his previous start, a 9-5 loss to the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field last weekend.

But Thornton was efficient and effective all afternoon Saturday, relying more on a faster-than-usual 93.6-mph four-seamer and his cutter to throw 61 of his 81 pitches for strikes.

It was a significant bounce back for Thornton, who followed the worst start of his career (six runs in five innings) with one of his best.

In his lone season with the Yankees, Soto finished third in American League MVP voting and helped lead them to the World Series in 2024.

But Soto immediately emerged as an enemy in the eyes of Yankees fans when he left for a record-setting 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets ahead of the 2025 season.

Soto finished just 1 for 10 and didn’t homer in three games in the Bronx last season, then went 1 for 5 with two strikeouts in Friday night’s series-opening 6-4 loss to the Yankees.

The 27-year-old Soto heard more boos Saturday, but those quickly turned to groans as he slugged a 400-foot no-doubter against left-hander Tim Hill in the seventh.

The Mets piled on with five more runs in the eighth, punctuated by Lindor’s grand slam off of Bradley Hanner. It was Lindor’s eighth career grand slam and his 20th home run of the season.

Jared Young capped the Mets’ scoring with a solo homer against Hanner in the ninth.

After taking two of three against the Yankees in May, the Mets will attempt to win the season series on Sunday afternoon, but it won’t come easily.

Cam Schlittler (13-6, 2.01 ERA) is set to start for the Yankees, while Christian Scott (4-4, 3.81 ERA) is lined up for the Mets.

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