Buck Showalter’s absence from the Mets did not last long.

“How do I look?” the manager said with a smile as he sat down for a news conference Thursday morning before the Mets beat the Giants 6-2 in the finale of a four-game series.

Showalter appears to be OK after he had a medical procedure Wednesday and missed the game that night. In his place, the trio of hitting coach Eric Chavez, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and player development coordinator Dick Scott were active in a 5-2 loss, but they’ll likely finish the season 0-1.

“I picked the night that [Carlos] Rodon was pitching on purpose. He was pretty good,” Showalter said jokingly about the Giants’ starting pitcher Wednesday. “We had a shot late there last night, but we couldn’t quite get over the hump.”

Showalter, 65, has not disclosed the specifics of the procedure, but was joking, in good spirits and looking like his usual self.

His three-headed replacement opted for several late-game pinch hitters, and if Dominic Smith’s eighth-inning rocket had gone anywhere but Wilmer Flores’ glove at third base, they would have looked better for it.

The one mental miscue Wednesday occurred on the bases. Starling Marte attempted to steal second with a runner on third and Francisco Lindor at the plate with the Mets down by four in the seventh inning. Marte was thrown out, ending the threat. After the loss, Marte said he always has the green light and had no regrets about the decision.

Showalter was asked if he was comfortable with the play and said he does not think it will happen again. Showalter gave Marte the day off Thursday and returned to manager mode immediately.

“It’s a teaching moment a little bit,” said Showalter, whose Mets are 10-3 with him in the dugout. “But you gotta be so careful, too, about making him not aggressive.”

The Mets have not announced a starter for Saturday at Arizona after David Peterson’s start Friday and before Tylor Megill’s start Sunday. Unless they turn to Taijuan Walker, who threw 45 pitches in an extended spring training game Wednesday, but has not yet built up after a stint on the injured list with bursitis in his right shoulder. There is a good chance it will be a bullpen game.

The hit-and-run is not commonly seen in today’s game, when so many batters are trying to slug homers rather than guide their hits — but the Mets attempted two Thursday.

The first was an act of beauty. Luis Guillorme, in the second inning, swatted a pitch to the spot Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford had abandoned. The single moved Travis Jankowski to third and led to a run. The second, in the bottom of the fifth, came with Jeff McNeil at the plate and Lindor on first, but resulted in a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play.

Showalter was not definitive about whether he intends to use the hit-and-run more often.

“Depends on who the runner is, depends on who the hitter is, depends on how many outs, depends on who the pitcher is: Is he around the plate? Depends on who the catcher is,” Showalter said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into your thinking.”

Zack Scott, the Mets’ former acting general manager who was arrested on a DWI charge last summer then was acquitted in January, has launched a consulting service.

“After nearly 20 years in baseball and four World Series Championships, I founded Four Rings to partner with sports owners and executives worldwide,” Scott said in a release. “We aim to build sporting operations that drive innovation and sustain success. We help organizations across all sports implement data and technology strategies, optimize infrastructures and systems, hire top-notch talent, and create a high-performance culture yielding measurable results.”