TORONTO — With the Mets down to their last three outs and facing the possibility of being no-hit in the midst of a playoff chase, their best chance to break it up was their best player: Francisco Lindor.

Lindor went down 0-2 to Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Bowden Francis. It would have been a great story for Francis, a 28-year-old career minor leaguer who was only converted to a starter this season. But thanks to Lindor’s heroics, the Mets authored a different ending.

Francis threw Lindor a pitch he could hit and he played to his role, driving a fastball over the right-field fence for a game-tying home run. It broke up the no-hitter and opened the door for a six-run rally in the ninth that led to a 6-2 win Wednesday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

The Jays removed Francis after the homer, having thrown 111 pitches. Right-hander Chad Green then entered and Toronto proceeded to implode.

Jose Iglesias chopped a ball to third baseman Luis De Los Santos and he overthrew first base. Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo walked to load the bases. Fly balls by Pete Alonso and Starling Marte scored runners and put the Mets up, 3-1.

The Jays (69-78) changed pitchers again, going to left-hander Genesis Cabrera. Francisco Alvarez took batting practice on the first pitch he saw, a 95-mph fastball, and drilled it off the batter’s eye in center field for a three-run homer, doubling the Mets’ lead. The ball was clocked at 109 mph off the bat.

The Mets (80-66) have been marred in an offensive funk over the last week, which they’ve mostly attributed to a combination of the ebbs and flows of the season and quality pitching. They knew Francis had a quality arm and was capable of inducing weak contact for ground-ball outs. For the most part, Francis did keep the ball on the ground but the Mets still hit him hard — hard enough that some of the outs would have been hits had it not been for a few stellar defensive plays and balls hit right at defenders.

Bowden retired the first 12 in order, but the Mets made him work in the fifth inning. He needed more than 20 pitches to get through and put two on with two out, hitting Alonso and walking Marte. He hit Iglesias in the sixth, but then retired the side in order again in the seventh.

The Blue Jays sent Francis back out for the eighth even after throwing 102 pitches. Marte and Alvarez both swung at the first pitch, making his job a little easier. For a minute, a no-hitter looked like a foregone conclusion.

And for a minute, it looked like the Blue Jays had a chance to come back. Ryne Stanek gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases with two outs, but Edwin Diaz came in and shut the door, needing only one pitch to get the final out and the save (18).

Left-hander Sean Manaea struggled with his command and his fastball velocity but still managed to hold Toronto to just one earned run on three hits over 6 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out eight, with walks getting him into trouble in the fourth.

He loaded the bases with none out and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored on a force play, but he then retired the next seven straight before walking De Los Santos in the bottom of the seventh. After striking out Joey Loperfido, he walked Brian Serven and was pulled for Reed Garrett.

It was yet another solid outing by the pitcher who has emerged as the Mets ace.

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