#Emotional Wilmer Flores made for one of the most awkward games in Mets history

Wilmer Flores stood at shortstop at Citi Field, crying, during a loss to the Padres on July 29, 2015 when word leaked that he’d been traded to the Brewers —along with Zack Wheeler — in exchange for Carlos Gomez.

The deal never went through, as the Mets were concerned about Gomez’s hip. The Mets would instead end up trading with the Tigers for Yoenis Cespedes, whose unfathomable home run hot streak helped propel the Mets to the division title.

Two days later, Flores belted a game-winning homer in the bottom of the 12th to beat the Nationals and begin a seven-game winning streak that helped propel the Mets to the NL East title and a World Series appearance.

“I don’t know if it changed my life,” Flores told The Post’s Steve Serby in 2017. “It definitely changed the way fans look at me. We’ve got to be tough out there, and fans don’t see that part of us, like the human part.”

It’s rarely on display more than on that July night in Queens, as TV cameras showed Flores in tears with rumors swirling that he was leaving the organization he signed with out of Venezuela.

“I was sad,” Flores added after the game. “I’ve been a Met forever. All my teammates are here. That’s why I got emotional.”

Flores said he heard from fans during the game that he’d been dealt, but he stayed in the game until the ninth, when he was finally pulled by manager Terry Collins because of his emotional state.

Collins called it “the craziest thing I have ever seen in a baseball game.”

“Here’s a kid in the middle of the game, everybody in the ballpark thinks he’s traded — but him, because I haven’t said anything to him,” Collins said. “How would you react? You guys think these guys are stone-cold robots, they’re not. They are human beings who have emotions and this kid is upset. He’s sad. He’s been a Met his whole life.”

Following the game, GM Sandy Alderson said there had never been a trade.

“Unfortunately, social media, etcetera, got ahead of the facts,” Alderson said. “It may have had an adverse effect on [Flores]. I’ve addressed personally with the player involved. It’s one of those things that happen.”

And he defended the decision to keep Flores in the game.

“We could have pulled him and contributed to the speculation,” Alderson said. “He was left in the game because we are trying to win the game and there was no deal. One of those conundrums where there is no right answer.”

“I’m coming to work tomorrow,” Flores said following the loss.

He followed that up with his memorable homer against the Nationals and after struggling for much of September, Flores made his presence felt during the postseason when Ruben Tejada was knocked out of the playoffs by Chase Utley’s infamous slide in the NLDS.

Flores went on to play a key role in the Mets’ five-game NLDS triumph over the Dodgers, as well as their sweep against the Cubs in the NLCS, before he struggled in the World Series, where the Mets lost to the Royals.