Ian Hamilton might be more valuable to the Yankees as a stopper than as a designated closer.

In his first outing since earning his first career save Saturday, Hamilton worked out of an inherited two-on no-out jam in the seventh inning Monday when he induced a groundout and struck out back-to-back hitters to strand runners on the corners.

The Yankees had just broken a tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and Hamilton made sure momentum didn’t change hands as the Yankees beat the Athletics, 7-2.

“He made some really good pitches in that spot,” manager Aaron Boone said, “and that’s the shutdown inning right there. A couple 3-2 counts and he just executes a pitch. It’s exciting to see and it’s all we’ve seen, really, since the start of spring training.”

Hamilton now sports a 1.35 ERA after six straight scoreless appearances.

“He’s the real deal, the truth,” starting pitcher Nestor Cortes said. “He’s been like a stopper for us. He closed out a game for us the other day in Tampa and hopefully he can continue to throw up zeroes for us.”

Hamilton would’ve pitched the eighth, too, if not for Aaron Hicks’ home run that stretched a 5-2 lead to 7-2.

“I don’t necessarily say, ‘He’s my closer.’ What we are seeing is we have a number of guys back there that we feel we can hand the ball to in that situation,” Boone said. “Obviously we did that with Ian the other day and nothing really changed for him as far as his execution, heartbeat and conviction. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it moving forward.”

Is there any saving grace for the Yankees in the disastrous Frankie Montas trade?

While Montas (out until at least August after shoulder surgery) and Lou Trivino (out for the season after Tommy John surgery) are contributing zero, it’s not like the Athletics are reveling in their return from the Aug. 1, 2022 trade involving six players.

JP Sears (0-3, 5.54 ERA) allowed three home runs and took the loss Monday against his former team.

“JP threw the ball well against us,” Boone said. “You know you are going to get that good, sneaky heater at the top of the zone, but I thought he did a good job with his secondary [pitches] of keeping us honest and being a little bit unpredictable.”

Ken Waldichuk (1-2, 7.25) and Luis Media (0-1, 12.60) — both of whom were dealt from the minor leagues without reaching the Yankees — haven’t fared any better.

Medina is back in the minors, with infielder Cooper Bowman.

Athletics manager Mark Kotsay praised Sears as a “competitor” and said Waldichuk’s velocity is “down a little bit this year.”

“Both these kids got off to kind of a rough start,” Kotsay said. “The toughest thing to do as a young pitcher is to come here and have immediate success. The biggest thing is we want to see gradual improvements from start to start, and I think we’ve seen that from both of them.”

Kotsay said it was “hard to watch” Montas and Trivino leave at the time of the trade.

“I think both of them still have bright futures once they come back,” Kotsay said.

Reliever Tommy Kahnle, who is on the 60-day injured list with right biceps tendinitis, threw a bullpen session Sunday that “went well,” Boone said.

There is no word on when he could begin a rehab assignment.