PHILADELPHIA — Tyler Zuber and Chris Devenski huddled by their adjacent lockers in the corner of a mostly empty visitors’ locker room at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday afternoon, their conversation engaged and animated — the way it is when two people are in something together.

For the Mets, they represent minor roster moves — two righthanded relievers called up Saturday to replace Friday’s starter, Blade Tidwell, and Friday’s sacrificial lamb, Justin Garza (both demoted back to Triple-A Syracuse). In fact, a slew of recent injuries and abbreviated starts means that, at any point during the last three days, a drive on the I-80 presented a non-zero chance of passing multiple pitchers making the surprise trek between Syracuse and Philadelphia.

Like Tidwell before them, Zuber and Devenski are players looking for another shot. Unlike Tidwell, who is 24, they’re also players who know those chances are not only fleeting but potentially running out.

Zuber, 30, a former Long Island Duck, has pitched in only two major-league games since 2021. Devenski, 34, was a serviceable reliever in his first two seasons with the Astros but also has been batted in and out of the minor leagues since 2018.

“It’s been a very mentally testing season,” Zuber told Newsday — a nod to his 6.08 ERA in Triple-A this year; he’s had success of late, though, not allowing a run in his last seven appearances. “There was a lot of searching and then it was like, hold on, wait a minute. It’s like a clicking moment . . . It’s like you’re in murky water and someone throws a diamond ring down there and tells you to find it. You don’t have goggles on. You’ve got to keep your eyes closed, so you’re just searching. But as soon as you pick it up, it’s like, there it is, and it’s beautiful.”

The key, for him, was to stop tinkering quite so much and go back to what he was doing in his most successful seasons, 2019 and 2020.

“I tried some of those pitches [from earlier in his career] and it was like, wait a minute, that’s something real,” he said. “I tried it in a game and it worked. Like, all right, I’m going to take it and run with it. It was the only thing I tried in a month that worked, so I’m going to keep it going.”

There’s a reason president of baseball operations David Stearns acquired him from the Rays via trade last year. He’s got a lot of movement on his fastball and sweeper, and, when he’s on, a strong cutter, too. But he can be wild and inconsistent, and early this season, both qualities ruled the show.

In the past, he considered quitting baseball entirely. This time it wasn’t an option for him.

“I don’t think I was ever ready to give up” this year, he said. “It was more like, when is all the work finally going to pay off?”

And the thing is, no one knows if it will, but for him and Devenski, it’s a chance, and that’s more than most get.

Devenski, who has a 3.97 ERA in 22 appearances in Triple-A this year, “is a guy who’s been in this league a long time, has the ability to throw strikes and get some lefties out,’’ Carlos Mendoza said. “[He] and Zuber are getting an opportunity. [Zuber’s] been on and off, some struggles, but he’s been a lot better as of late.”

Then Mendoza gave the most pressing (and most obvious) reason for the call-ups: “We needed some fresh arms with the way we’ve been using these guys, and they’re here.”

But that’s just fine. Everyone knows how this carousel works. The Mets are in a brutal and increasingly cursed stretch of 13 straight games — one in which they lost Tylor Megill and Max Kranick to injury and have had to grit their way through a slew of abbreviated starts that have tugged the bullpen deep under water.

Are you a warm body with a serviceable sweeper? Congratulations. You’ve been selected to face Nick Castellanos with runners on base.

But . . . that also means you get to face Castellanos with runners on base and maybe show what you can do.

“Any time you can walk into a clubhouse and you’re surrounded by big-leaguers, that’s what makes it real,” Zuber said. “It’s an indescribable moment.”