Chris Bassitt pitched like an ace at Citi Field on Friday night … but it happened 236 days too late to help the Mets advance in the postseason.
And mere hours after his wife Jessica went into labor back in Toronto.
Bassitt elected to risk missing the birth of his second child Friday to stay in New York with his Blue Jays teammates and return for the first time to the mound on which he had he struggled last year in the elimination game of the Mets’ loss to the Padres in the wild-card series.
After a 91-minute rain delay, Bassitt limited his former team to just three hits over 7 ²/₃ innings and hurried out of the ballpark before the Blue Jays finished off a 3-0 win against the Mets.
“Staying locked in, a ton of things on his mind, facing his former team, completely in control of his emotions and his stuff,” manager John Schneider said. “That’s one of the best performances we’ve seen out of anyone given everything that he had going on.”
The Blue Jays held a jet at the airport for Bassitt, whose wife had not given birth by the end of the game, Schneider said.
“He wanted to pitch,” Schneider said. “Once we started, [we] weren’t even discussing whether he wanted to come out early.”
Bassitt’s one season with the Mets mostly was a success (he led the team with 15 victories and 181 ²/₃ innings pitched), but will be remembered for its sour ending.
That included lasting just four innings and taking the loss against San Diego in the season-ending Game 3 wild-card defeat.
“I wish something else played out,” a wistful Bassitt told The Post earlier this season. “I don’t care how I personally did, but I wish we won the games. Regret isn’t the right word. I don’t regret anything. There’s nothing I would change [preparation-wise]. Just the result.”
Bassitt, who rejected his part of a $19 million mutual option and declined the qualifying offer (one-year, $19.65 million) that would have returned him to the Mets, outdueled one of the pitchers brought into replace him in free agency, Justin Verlander. A more efficient Bassitt (6-4) didn’t walk a batter.
“Great job and go be a dad,” Schneider told Bassitt as he called for the bullpen. “Life is funny sometimes. Hopefully she hangs on [until he arrives].”
Bassitt’s best work came in the third inning, when he picked up teammate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after the first baseman’s error left runners on the corners with no outs. Bassitt retired the top third of the Mets’ lineup without the ball leaving the infield.
He also stranded runners in scoring position to end the first and seventh innings.
Teammates were awed by Bassitt’s focus.
“There’s a lot of stress, a lot of pressure, just being able to get that game going so he can get home for his wife,” outfielder Daulton Varsho said. “It was a pretty cool experience for him to be able to do that and go experience having a second kid. Just wishing they have a healthy baby.”