Hunter Dobbins grew up in Texas watching his and his father’s beloved Red Sox and the hated Yankees throw haymakers at each other — some of them literal — in one of the most intense rivalries in sports. He undoubtedly dreamed of one day participating in the AL East feud himself.

So imagine his disappointment when he finally arrived in the Bronx this weekend to find the once-fierce battles between the two teams fizzled into lopsided afterthoughts as the franchises head in opposite directions, separated by 9 1⁄2 games in the early June standings.

What’s a rookie pitcher to do?

Reignite it as best he can.

True rivalries never burn out as long as there are embers to occasionally blow on, and the 25-year-old Boston righty gave them a lungful. He was quoted by the Boston Herald on Saturday saying: “If the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I’d retire.”

That was one day before he faced them as the starter in Sunday night’s third game of the series.

The comments naturally made their way to the Yankees’ clubhouse before any scouting report. Rather than be rankled by the comments, at least one key Yankee was excited by the reintroduction of at least a little drama to the drab scene.

“I like it, I do like it,” Yankees third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. said before the game. “I like the competitiveness. I’m a huge fan of college baseball right now just because of how they are. They are super-competitive and super-fiery, and I like that.

“It adds a little bit of fun,” he said of Dobbins’ remarks and trash talk in general. “It adds a lot of spiciness. You enjoy it more. You are more locked in as a fan because you know what is going on. It’s fun. I think it’s fun, at least.”

Chisholm even returned serve in similar fashion when asked how he and his teammates spoke about Dobbins’ feelings toward the Yankees. “Not much,” he said. “I just said we’re gonna kick [butt] tonight.”

The full house at the Stadium was of the same mind as Dobbins took the mound for his first appearance against the team he was raised to despise. That was to be expected.

“I always say that when they put the mic on in front of you, you can say whatever you want,” Boston manager Alex Cora said before the game. “It’s going to be hostile anyway, so he just added a little bit more, I guess.”

Dobbins didn’t do much to back it up early. After allowing a leadoff single by Ben Rice, he yielded a 436-foot two-run homer to Aaron Judge that landed in the bleachers in right-center. It was Judge’s 22nd of the season and the 30th of his career against Boston; only Babe Ruth got to 30 faster for the Yankees.

Dobbins settled in and retired 13 of the next 14 hitters before DJ LeMahieu tagged a fifth-inning pitch for a solo homer to right that gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. Dobbins left the game after finishing that inning . . .  but with a chance to get the win after former Yankees prospect Carlos Narvaez hit a three-run homer in the top of the sixth for a 5-3 lead that drove Yankees starter Carlos Rodon from the game.

Unlike Chisholm, whose mouth put him in a maelstrom during last year’s playoffs when facing the Royals (the team the Yankees play starting Tuesday in Kansas City), Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he does not “crave” more verbal conflict in the game.

“I’ve gotten my fill from these college regionals with some of the nonsense that I see going on,” he said. “Like, what are we doing? No, I’m not craving that. But it doesn’t bother me.”

Boone also brushed aside Dobbins’ swipe as more devotion to the Red Sox than a slur against the Yankees.

“He’s young,” Boone said. “We’ll leave it at that.”

Still, Boone did have a jab of his own regarding the miniature flareup in the otherwise docile existence between the two teams.

“It’s a little funny,” Boone said with a puckish grin. “It sounds like a hypothetical.”

Dobbins may not want to ever play for the Yankees. Time will tell if that feeling winds up being mutual.

Anthony Volpe returned to the lineup after missing most of Saturday’s game (he appeared as a pinch runner) because of swelling in his elbow after he was hit by a pitch on Friday night. “Just a lot of stuff I didn’t even know existed in the training room, a lot of treatments,” the shortstop said of the process to get back before the end of the series. “Stuff I don’t want to ever have to do again to get all of the swelling out.” Boone said Volpe did not swing a bat at all on Saturday but came in Sunday for treatment and was able to take some early hitting practice. “He felt good,” Boone said. “It’s good to get him back in.” . . . Boone also said Luke Weaver, on the 15-day injured list since Tuesday with a left hamstring strain, was able to throw with “a little more intensity” on Sunday. Weaver had a PRP injection on Friday. “He feels good,” Boone said. “Hopefully that continues trending like that.”