MLB

Francisco’s change leads to mound of success

Less than two weeks ago, seemingly everybody outside the Mets clubhouse was wondering why struggling Frank Francisco was still their closer.

Lately he’s showing why.

A change in his bullpen sessions has made a change in the Mets’ maligned pen as Francisco has given them some much-needed endgame stability.

He has retired a dozen straight since a sketchy outing in Toronto, including a perfect ninth inning in yesterday’s 2-0 shutout of San Diego. And Francisco — whose 13 saves are one off the NL lead — told The Post it’s due to a subtle change, throwing his bullpen sessions off the mound instead of flat ground.

“My velocity has been the same; it’s better command, locating well. I’ve been working with [pitching coach Dan Warthen] in the bullpen every day, and I think it’s working,’’ Francisco said. “At the beginning, they were trying to make me get familiar with the mound every day. I used to throw off flat ground before.

“I didn’t like it in the beginning, throwing off the mound every day. But I’ve been trying and it worked. … I just started before we went on the road, when there was a little struggle. I tried it, threw one game OK, then the game into Toronto was better; then after that they told me to try and see, and I think it worked.’’

METS BOX SCORE

After that three-game stretch in which he blew a pair of saves and suffered a loss, Warthen and bullpen coach Ricky Bones suggested, “if you’re going to throw your bullets, do it off the mound.’’ And after a scoreless frame against Cincinnati, the struggling Francisco had an epiphany in Toronto.

“We all had faith in him. In-house it was this is our guy and he’ll get the job done,’’ said catcher Mike Nickeas.

And Terry Collins thought Francisco had a breakthrough against the Blue Jays.

“That was a huge game for us,’’ said Collins. “Him getting out of that inning really gave him a lift.’’

Booed when he took the mound in Toronto against his former team, Francisco allowed a walk and a single but bounced back to strike out Edwin Encarnacion, J.P. Arencibia and Eric Thames. He’s thrown three straight perfect frames since, and retired Everth Cabrera, Yonder Alonso and Jesus Guzman in order yesterday for his fourth save in their last seven games.

“Anytime you face a former team and you get a chance to get the ball and shove it up their butt, you want to do that,’’ said Tim Byrdak. “He did that there and you’ve seen the results since then.’’

Byrdak had been one of the few relievers to get consistent results. He replaced R.A. Dickey yesterday with two on and one out in the eighth, retiring Alexis Amarista and fanning Will Venable. He has 14 straight scoreless outings, dating to May 6, and a major-league leading 23 runners stranded.

“Having a guy like Tim Byrdak behind you, you feel pretty confident,’’ said Dickey.

And now, having Francisco behind Byrdak doesn’t seem that bad either.

brian.lewis@nypost.com