DETROIT -- Shortly after opting out of his Minor League contract with the Rangers, right-handed reliever Dominic Leone flew to Detroit, where the Mets were playing. Anticipating a need in their bullpen given a string of rainouts and brief outings from their starters, the Mets indicated to Leone’s camp that they would sign him if he came to Michigan. So Leone took that leap of faith.

Two days later, his faith was vindicated when the Mets signed Leone to a Major League contract and activated him in time for Thursday’s finale against the Tigers. The deal is worth $1.5 million prorated for the time he missed, according to a source, so the actual value is closer to $1.2 million.

Leone laughed at the nature of these sorts of baseball deals, joking that the unorthodox circumstances of his arrival in Detroit were “above my paygrade.”

“I just show up, I put on the uniform and throw,” Leone said. “I got here with the hopes that everything would work out. And sure enough, it did.”

The Connecticut native has done that well of late, striking out 15 batters over 11 1/3 innings at Texas’ Triple-A Round Rock affiliate, following a spring that saw him produce a 2.16 ERA over eight outings but fail to make the Opening Day roster. He made his Mets debut in the seventh inning of a 2-0 loss to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon, retiring all three batters he faced.

“The market each year is different,” Leone said. “But I thought I did enough, pitched well enough through spring and through the first month of the season. I was just hoping I’d latch on somewhere and would be able to pitch in the big leagues again.”

A veteran of six teams, Leone has appeared in the Majors every year since 2014, most recently serving as a regular member of San Francisco’s bullpen from 2021-22. He owns a career 3.69 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning at the highest level, relying mostly on a mid-90s fastball, a low-90s cutter and mid-80s slider.

“There were a bunch of teams trying to get him, and we were able to acquire him,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “He was somebody that we had looked at and targeted in the offseason. When he took his out, there was a lot of competition for him. We were fortunate to add him.”

For Showalter, Leone offers a healthy, rested arm for a bullpen in significant need of one. The Mets played doubleheaders on Monday and Wednesday, relying on their bullpen for 21 innings over that three-day stretch. To clear space for Leone and Thursday’s starter Justin Verlander, the Mets optioned both John Curtiss and Zach Muckenhirn to Triple-A Syracuse.