By Kevin Kernan

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BALTIMORE — Five games into the season and already it’s not easy being a Baby Bomber. Bringing young talent along is a major league challenge.

Gary Sanchez took a light practice swing Saturday and crumbled over in pain. Scratch him from Monday’s home opener.

You have to wonder when Sanchez, the rock of the Yankees franchise, will be able to take his vicious home run cut again after the events at Camden Yards in a dreadful 5-4 loss to the Orioles.

After fouling back a bearing-in 3-2 fastball from Kevin Gausman in the fifth inning, Sanchez had to leave the game with a right biceps strain. He came right out and was replaced by Austin Romine.

“It felt kind of like when you pull a hamstring, it was the same feeling,’’ said Sanchez, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list. “After I felt it I tried to do a warm-up swing and I couldn’t do it.’’

This can be a tricky injury, add to it the fact Sanchez is a catcher and uses that right arm to make his laser throws to second, and you could be staring at some serious down time for the most important Yankee.

Manager Joe Girardi, a former catcher, knows the seriousness of any arm injury for a backstop.

“Of course,’’ Girardi said. “When you talk about the throwing arm and when you see a guy come out of the game like that and hold it like that you are really concerned. Especially with this being his throwing arm, we’ll be mindful of that and we’ll make sure that when he comes back that he is ready to go.’’

The focus was on Sanchez’s injury, but Masahiro Tanaka was not good for the second straight outing and hit two batters in one game for the first time in his career. This season could be a lot more trying than the Yankees imagined.

This was a downer day for the Baby Bombers. Minor league pitcher James Kaprielian could be headed to Tommy John surgery. General manager Brian Cashman said his concern is “high’’ regarding Kaprielian. Greg Bird sat out with a bruised right foot, an injury he suffered in Clearwater, Fla., fouling a ball off the foot at the end of March, and then Sanchez went down.

As for Sanchez, he swings with such force, that’s how you wind up with 426-foot home runs with an exit velocity of 112 mph, like the one Sanchez blasted in the fifth inning of Friday’s 6-5 loss to the Orioles.

That same swing force created the biceps strain. After the practice swing and when Sanchez bent over in pain, Girardi immediately rushed to his side along with trainer Michael Schuk. You could see Schuk say the word “pop’’ when he was talking with Sanchez about the injury as translator Marlon Abreu joined the conversation.

Sanchez is everything to the Yankees. He is their sun, moon and stars. He is just 24 and is the centerpiece of the Yankees’ plans for the future. Everything revolves around him.

Any injury to Sanchez is a serious injury. It was just a few weeks ago in spring training when Cashman was talking about the importance of the catcher and center-field position, especially in the Yankees universe, and the value of Sanchez.

“That’s the high-rent district because of the history behind those positions and the people that manned them for a decade,’’ Cashman said. “It’s almost like a Supreme Court justice. Those type of players that man that position for a very long time.

“Gary has the ability to have an extremely powerful impact career.’’

Yes he does, but like any other player he must stay healthy. That is job No. 1.

At least it wasn’t the tendon.

“Yeah, it’s the muscle,’’ Cashman told The Post. “Thank God, if it was the tendon it would be a very serious issue.’’

This all came on the heals of blowing a 5-1 lead on Friday night as the Orioles have begun the season 4-0. This season of transition has been a weekend of disaster at Camden Yards.

So far, being a Baby Bomber is pretty difficult.