NEW YORK -- Wilmer Flores entered his sixth-inning at-bat on Saturday hitting .077 and with no RBIs on the season. So when he launched a solo homer against Matt Cain to cap the New York Mets' scoring in an eventual 6-5 win against the San Francisco Giants, he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders.

“I ran the bases like it was a walk-off,” Flores said. “It felt good to finally start helping the team.”

Flores, who started 126 games last season, has been relegated to a super-utility role in 2016 thanks to the additions of Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker. His difficulties adapting have not only been at the plate. Filling in for resting David Wright at third base, Flores had a two-out throwing error in the third inning Saturday that led to three unearned runs.

“I didn’t rush or anything,” Flores said. “I just made a bad throw.”

Said Jacob deGrom: “The thing I was most disappointed about was not being able to pick up Flo. Errors happen in the game. Those are times when you’ve got to make the pitches and pick your teammate up.”

Manager Terry Collins acknowledged it has been a rough adjustment for Flores to a backup role -- especially considering his tears and then walk-off homer in late July last season helped ignite the Mets.

“He’s really scuffling,” Collins said. “It’s tearing him up. I’ve had enough talks with him to know. This guy started it for us last year, and now he’s not playing much. You talk about a guy who is a little stressed out because he’s not pulling on his end, it’s Wilmer Flores, who was a big part of our lineup -- and he will be. As I’ve told him many times, we’ve got a long way to go yet.”

Flores also noted the adjustment to sporadic playing time and pinch hitting has been difficult.

“I’m definitely trying to keep my confidence up there at the plate and out there when I’m playing,” Flores said. “I think to do this job you’ve got to be mentally stronger.

“Sometimes you just need one base hit or a homer to get it going, to wake it up. I really hope this is it.”