MLB

BELTRAN’S WALK-OFF HIT SAVES NIGHT

It was ugly, lucky and came against the equivalent of the Iowa Cubs, but the Mets were in no position to quibble about style points.

Wins are all that matter at this point, and interim manager Jerry Manuel’s desperate club scratched one out when it was desperately needed last night in a 7-6 victory at a rainy Shea Stadium.

PHOTOS: Mets Top Cubs

MORE: Complete Mets Coverage

MORE: Mets Blog

Never mind that the Mets needed Carlos Beltran’s walk-off single in the ninth and Ryan Church’s crazy slide in the eighth to escape what amounted to a Triple-A lineup by the NL Central-champion Cubs.

The bottom line was that the Amazin’s managed to stay in the heat of the playoff race with three games left. The Mets moved to within a game of the idle Phillies in the NL East and remaining tied with the victorious Brewers.

“It was weird the way we did it, but the most important thing right now is winning,” Beltran said.

Beltran’s two-out single off the glove of fill-in Cubs first baseman Micah Hoffpauir – much more on him later – scored Jose Reyes from second and capped a fierce rally from a 6-3 deficit in the seventh.

It was just the Mets’ second victory all season in which they trailed by three runs or more in the seventh inning.

Beltran also helped the Mets make up for reliever Ricardo Rincon, who served up a three-run homer to Hoffpauir in the seventh that broke a 3-3 tie.

Manuel’s team wouldn’t let that happen, though, tying the game 6-6 in the eighth on one of the wildest plays of the season.

Third-base coach Luis Aguyo appeared to wave Church into a inning-ending out after a single to shallow right by Robinson Cancel, but some nimble moves by Church enabled him to score.

Cubs catcher Koyie Hill appeared to have Church by at least three steps, but Hill couldn’t apply the tag as Church wiggled his lower body out of the way before scrambling back to touch the plate with a hand-first dive.

It was just one of the night’s many highlights for Church, who was mired in an awful slump since coming back from post-concussion syndrome. Church, hitting barely .200 since late August, was 3-for-3 with a two-run double before showing off his base running prowess in that eighth inning.

Right-hander Joe Smith (6-3) then worked his way out of a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth to set up the victory and help take Rincon and starter Pedro Martinez off the hook.

The Mets’ struggles to that point had been embarrassing because they came against a virtual spring-training lineup put on the field by Lou Piniella, who rested stars Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto, Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez.

Then again, Piniella had Hoffpauir, who had not homered in his first 29 big-league games before blasting one each off Martinez and Rincon as part of a 5-for-5, five-RBI night.

Hoffpauir’s second homer broke open a 3-3 game in the seventh inning and came just one pitch after Martinez left to a noisy standing ovation after allowing five earned runs and recording a season-high nine strikeouts.

After toasting Martinez, the fans would have even more reason to cheer.

“I believe we’re ready to go ahead and take off,” Manuel said of this weekend’s huge series with the Marlins. “I wouldn’t think our fans would let us perform any other way.”

bhubbuch@nypost.com

Mets 7

Cubs 6