ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Travis d’Arnaud ran to the Rays’ clubhouse door at Tropicana Field, gave a fist bump to the security guard and dashed into the room to wild cheers after hitting the first walk-off home run of his career on Saturday.

Yes, d’Arnaud is no longer a Met.

The catcher stunned the Yankees — lining a ninth-inning, two-out home run into the right-center seats off Chad Green on the first pitch as thunder roared outside and inside the ballpark to give the Rays a 4-3 win over the Yankees, snapping a six-game losing streak to manager Aaron Boone’s crew.

The Yankees had just tied the game on Aaron Hicks’ stunning two-out home run in the top of the ninth. It appeared the teams were headed for more extra-innings thunder — just like the first two games of this four-game series, when on Thursday and Friday the Yankees beat the Rays by identical 8-4 scores — until d’Arnaud stepped up.

Players quickly realize being a Met is a challenge on many levels. D’Arnaud is no exception.

“It’s different over there,’’ d’Arnaud told The Post as teammate after teammate came over to give him a hug.

It sure is. Escaping New York was the best thing for d’Arnaud.

“It’s worked out,’’ d’Arnaud said. “It’s Tampa versus New York. I think it was something I needed to slow things down. For me, it was just great to get back to just having fun and playing. I missed a whole year too [with Tommy John surgery]. I was playing poorly.

“There is a lot of energy here, a lot of young guys, a lot of fight. I have the third most time [in the majors],’’ d’Arnaud said. “A lot of people dance and have fun. It’s a good time, a really good time over here.’’

In other words, it’s not the Mets.

“The game sped up on me with the Mets,’’ said d’Arnaud, who also produced an RBI single in the second. “Here, they just kept putting me out there and trusting me and the game slows down instead of pressing and trying to do too much.’’

Trust is easily lost with the Mets. Trust in the players, the manager and the coaches — witness pitching coach Dave Eiland getting fired.

“Dave did a great job there, I loved him,’’ said d’Arnaud, who as a catcher worked closely with the pitching coach.

D’Arnaud keeps in touch with the likes of Zack Wheeler, Michael Conforto and catcher Tomas Nido.

“It’s good to see Tomas doing well,’’ he said.

As for Saturday’s home run, it was a rocket.

“I feel sorry for anybody it hit out there,’’ d’Arnaud said with a smile.

“It was quick,’’ d’Arnaud added. “I was looking for a pitch to do damage on. It was pretty unbelievable. I’m still on Cloud 9 right now. We definitely needed that, they beat us [six] times in a row. To be able to put a stop to that was big for the Rays. It’s a huge win. We come into [Sunday] with really good momentum. Everybody who has been here has been awesome, they welcomed me with open arms.’’

They have. Saturday’s starting pitcher, Blake Snell, said landing d’Arnaud was a “steal.’’

D’Arnaud is the first to admit how badly he struggled with the Mets. He has been reunited with his old Triple-A hitting coach from his days with the Blue Jays, Chad Mottola, and that has made a positive difference.

“Travis has given us a lift,’’ Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

“I’m not using so much body as I was with the Mets,’’ d’Arnaud said. “I’m using my hands more. My front side was flying open and I was trying to do too much, way too much, instead of just trusting my hands and hitting it on the barrel, I think was worrying way too much about the results over there because I wasn’t hitting. I was compounding it all in my head.’’

Things like that tend to happen with the Mets.

D’Arnaud has hit home runs in six of his past 20 games after having no home runs in his first 26 games. He was acquired from the Dodgers for cash considerations on May 10.

“Now that I’ve gone through it, it was probably good to get away,’’ d’Arnaud said.

Indeed. Welcome to the ex-Mets club.

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