Mets owner Steve Cohen says firing manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday was a “mercy shot.”

In his first comments since Mendoza got canned, Cohen opened up on the decision with The Post’s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on the latest episode of “The Show” podcast, which releases later Wednesday.

The Mets were swept at home by the Cubs in a four-game series last week, falling to 34-47 in Mendoza’s third year at the helm.

“I think it came down to one simple question: Were we going to extend Carlos or not? And if the answer was no, then in my discussions with [President of Baseball Operations] David [Stearns], we both agreed, at this time, give him a break,” Cohen said. “The guy’s sitting in front of the cameras every day, and if you’re not gonna extend him — I describe it as a mercy shot, given where the club was.

“Frankly, I watched that game where we had six errors and the next day we had two errors, and the club just wasn’t playing well,” added Cohen, who shared on the podcast that Stearns will remain in his role.

Andy Green took over as interim manager.

Mendoza led the Mets to an NLCS appearance in his first year as manager in 2024 after an 89-73 regular season.

The team missed the playoffs last year at 83-79, and Stearns overhauled the roster with a series of moves that have mostly backfired.

The Mets are 119-129 since the start of the 2025 season.

“I don’t know too many managers that are in that role forever, and that’s just part of the gig, and sometimes you have to make a change,” Cohen said of Mendoza.