Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets’ ace returned, and Tomás Nido came through in the clutch again to help give the Mets a 3-1 win over the Rockies Tuesday night.

Jacob deGrom came back from right-side tightness tonight and made his first start in 16 days. He was normal Jacob deGrom, meaning he struck out a ton and gave up just a run.

Luis Rojas only gave deGrom five innings and 63 pitches to do his work (it’s okay, deGrom was all smiles when he was pulled) after throwing four innings in his lone rehab start.

The only damage against deGrom came on a Ryan McMahon solo home run in the second inning. The Rockies infielder, who hit his second homer in as many nights, launched a 99.9 mile-per-hour fastball over the left-field wall. That’s about all the Rockies got off deGrom, aside from two Brendan Rodgers singles.

DeGrom finished the night with nine strikeouts, and he averaged 99.4 m.p.h. on his fastball–0.5 m.p.h. faster than his yearly average so far. His fastball maxed out at 101.3, Just a tad slower than the 101.9 in his rehab start.

He looked his usual self, thankfully, and the Mets were surely being cautious with the best pitcher in baseball. The team doesn’t have an off day until June 7, and they’ll need deGrom on regular rest a couple more times before then.

Making sure deGrom is healthy is paramount, especially after the latest news about Noah Syndergaard, so playing it a little safe against the Rockies in his first start back is fine.

Once deGrom left the game, Tomás Nido put the Mets up for good in the sixth on a two-run home run that was initially called a double but ultimately ruled a homer. It just got over the orange line on the left-field wall.

That’s Nido’s third home run this year. His second put the Mets up in Atlanta last week, and his first padded a Mets lead in St. Louis in what became the first win of seven in a row for the team. And then there’s his go-ahead bloop single in Atlanta last week, too. He’s had a penchant for these timely hits. His OPS now sits at .835 through 46 at-bats.

Miguel Castro, who hadn’t pitched since Friday (like the two following pitchers), relieved deGrom with two scoreless inning in which he only allowed one walk.

Trevor May followed suit in the eighth–one walk, no runs–and Edwin Diaz did the same–one walk, no runs–in the ninth for his eighth save of the year in as many chances. Mets pitching struck out 16 batters tonight.

Jonathan Villar and Dom Smith were the two other catalysts on offense tonight with two hits and a walk each. Villar was caught stealing twice–once on a controversial replay call where he was sliding through the bag and came off for just a hair, and replay called him out. Jacob deGrom was victim of the same sort of replay irritation the next inning when a pop slide at second resulted in him coming off the bag by about half an inch. (Oh, yeah, he’s batting .471 now.)

Runners were initially called safe on both plays only for them to be overturned.

The Mets shrugged off the minor base running drama and notched a desperately needed win against a lackluster road team. They’re now 22-20 and remain in first place in the NL East.

Marcus Stroman and his 2.75 ERA will take the mound for the Mets tomorrow in a 7:10 p.m. game.

Stroman’s best start of the year came against the Rockies on April 18, when he went eight innings and peppered the Rockies with sinkers in Coors field, which resulted in 11 ground-ball outs.

The Rockies will toss out German Marquez, who himself had one of his best start of year against tomorrow’s opponent. He kept the Mets at bay for a seven-inning complete in a doubleheader the day before Stroman.