NEW YORK -- As he returned to the dugout following his fourth at-bat on Tuesday afternoon, Michael Conforto slammed his bat to the ground with both hands, raised it back up again, then jammed it into the bat rack in one of the most overt shows of frustration of his career. Conforto ripped his helmet off his head and fired that down as well. Then he ran his hand through his hair as he looked for answers in the sky, a scowl running across his face.

So uncharacteristic of the typically even-keeled Conforto, the actions were jarring to those who saw them. Eventually, manager Luis Rojas and bench coach Dave Jauss approached Conforto to tell him he was “going to get another big one.”

“And I ended up getting another big one,” Conforto said.

Two, actually. After setting the winning play in motion with a game-tying RBI single in Game 1 of Tuesday’s makeshift doubleheader at Citi Field, giving the Mets a walk-off victory, Conforto blasted a two-run, second-deck home run in Game 2 to lead them to a 3-1 win over the Marlins in seven innings. All told, Conforto reached base four times on the day despite going hitless in his first four at-bats.

“We just want Michael to carry this over and have that consistency,” Rojas said. “Michael’s a special hitter. I know it hasn’t been there for the most part this season, but that was a good sign in Game 2 tonight.”

Only slowly has Conforto begun to resemble the hitter he was from 2015-20, when he served as a consistent power producer in the middle of New York’s lineup. Heading into August, Conforto was hitting .198/.322/.324 with six home runs -- an almost shockingly low slash line within the context of his career output. August alone may not have undone all those early struggles for Conforto, but it certainly helped. Upon reaching base three times in Game 2 on Tuesday, Conforto finished the month batting .268/.388/.488 with four homers.

“The quality at-bats were more in August,” Rojas said. “We saw him laying off of more pitches and taking better swings as a whole. Probably results-wise, he wasn’t exactly what you expect out of Michael. But I think he’s really close to being that guy.”

Conforto was far from the Mets’ only contributor on a day that saw Javier Báez sprint from first to home in each game to score key runs; Trevor Williams deliver 4 1/3 effective innings in a spot start in the nightcap; and Aaron Loup and Seth Lugo both escape notable jams in relief. But Conforto is the hitter perhaps most critical to the Mets’ chances if they want to work their way back into the NL East race.

Earlier this season, Conforto said, he may have spent too much time searching for the singular moment -- a second-deck home run, for instance -- that would allow everything to click for him. Since then, he has worked mostly on shrinking his strike zone and hunting pitches within smaller pieces of it. In that fashion, he said, he can let his natural abilities shine through.

“I’m just trying to do what I can to put quality at-bats together and help the team win, because that’s what we need right now,” Conforto said. “So that’s where my focus is.”

The result on Tuesday was the type of banner day that Conforto’s team has not enjoyed in some time. In winning twice, the Mets temporarily moved within six games of the Braves for the first time in 11 days, and after the Dodgers defeated the Braves, the Mets found themselves 5 1/2 games out of first place. They won three consecutive games for just the second time since June.

And with it came a feeling of relief.

“I mean, those guys were having a party in there,” Rojas said. “They were celebrating with each other, congratulating each other. A lot of guys participated in both wins, and it was a big two team wins.”