The Yankees’ bullpen received a boost — not that it needed one.

The team activated Ian Hamilton prior to its Wednesday game against the Athletics in Oakland. Jhony Brito, who held the A’s to two earned runs over 5.2 innings in Tuesday’s loss, was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Hamilton hasn’t pitched in the majors since suffering a right groin strain on May 16. The righty had been enjoying a breakout campaign up to that point, recording a 1.23 ERA and one save while striking out 34.1% of batters and setting career-highs with 16 games and 22 innings pitched.

A non-roster invitee, Hamilton made the Yankees’ squad out of spring training after enduring some unfortunate injury history earlier in his career.

Now he’s looking to pick up where he left off in a bullpen that’s been a bright spot for the third-place Yankees.

Entering Wednesday, the Yankees had the second-best relief ERA (2.38) in baseball since Hamilton got hurt. Overall, their pen has a league-leading 2.83 ERA over 299 innings. Cleveland (2.94) is the only other bullpen with a sub-3.00 ERA.

Yankees relievers have also led the league in opponents’ batting average (.210), opponents’ slugging percentage (.334), left on base percentage (77.6%) and HR/9 (0.72).

The Yankees’ bullpen is second in WHIP (1.17), third in opponents’ on-base percentage (.299) and fourth in fWAR (3.0).

While high-leverage relievers such as Michael King and Wandy Peralta haven’t been their typically dominant selves in recent games, the Yankees’ collective bullpen has outperformed its season numbers lately.

The unit has a 1.29 ERA and 33 strikeouts over its last eight games and 28 innings, dating back to June 18. The pen has held opponents to a .177 average in that span.

Clay Holmes has been especially brilliant for the Yankees after enduring a few tough outings earlier this season.

While he let Texas score on Friday, he had not allowed a run in 20 of his last 22 games entering Wednesday. He added a 4-0 record and five saves over that stretch, and his 0.81 ERA over that period is the lowest among all pitchers (minimum 20 innings).

Tommy Kahnle, meanwhile, has yet to surrender a run over 10.2 innings after the start of his season was delayed by a biceps injury. Then there’s Ron Marinaccio, who had not given up a run in his last 10 outings entering Wednesday.

And despite recent hiccups, King and Peralta still have respectable numbers. Others, like Albert Abreu, Jimmy Cordero and Nick Ramirez, have also pitched well for a bullpen that planned on having the injured Lou Trivino and Jonathan Loaisiga pitching in important spots.

The Yankees don’t have the bullpen they imagined when the year began, but that hasn’t held the unit back, as some unexpected pitchers have stepped up.

Hamilton was one of the first to do so before getting hurt. Now he can find his footing in a bullpen that’s managed just fine without him.

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