NEW YORK -- Carlos Carrasco may have missed nearly two-thirds of the season, but he’s healthy now. And his importance to the Mets has never been higher.

Carrasco pitched four strong innings Friday in his long-awaited return from the injured list, mere hours after the Mets learned that Jacob deGrom will likely remain sidelined until at least September. deGrom’s absence, combined with the Mets not landing an impact starter before the Trade Deadline, has increased the team’s reliance on Carrasco over the season’s final two months.

“It’s really important,” Carrasco said after the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Reds at Citi Field. “Thank God that I’m here now, that I’m available to pitch. We know that deGrom’s going to be down for a little while, but we keep fighting. That’s what we can do. That’s the only thing we have to do right now is just keep fighting.”

The right-hander showed flashes of his ability to meet those demands in holding Cincinnati to one run over four innings in front of the Mets’ second-largest home crowd of the season. Carrasco’s debut began inauspiciously, when he allowed a Jonathan India leadoff homer on his first pitch. But he scattered just two other hits and a walk before departing. The Mets limited Carrasco to 58 pitches because he did not stretch out fully before ending his Minor League rehab assignment.

“He threw the ball great,” manager Luis Rojas said. “This guy is an excellent pitcher. He gets jumped the first pitch of the game for that homer, and it didn’t bother him a bit. He fell behind some counts and was able to come back with his repertoire -- slider, changeup, the sinker, four-seam. All those things were working."

The process of stretching out should finish over the next few weeks, as Carrasco joins a rotation that -- for now -- also includes Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker, Rich Hill and Tylor Megill. With little obvious depth in the Minors, the Mets will rely on those five to stay healthy and productive.

They’ll also depend upon their offense to do more, after mustering just two runs in Friday’s loss. While plenty of concern continues to surround Michael Conforto, who finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts to drop his season average to .199, the Mets remain confident that their lineup will perk up in time, particularly once trade acquisition Javier Báez arrives on Saturday.

Pitching is another matter. Although the Mets can finally look forward to some rotation consistency after weeks of frequent “TBAs,” the loss of deGrom affects how good this unit can be. And the back-end starting depth remains thin, with only Trevor Williams coming aboard at the Trade Deadline.

That increases the importance of Carrasco, a veteran who went 88-73 with a 3.77 ERA over 11 seasons before the Indians traded him to the Mets alongside Francisco Lindor this past offseason. A spring hamstring injury sidelined Carrasco for what the Mets initially hoped would be 6-8 weeks, before multiple setbacks delayed his return until Friday. And the Mets are relying on him more than ever.

“With the Jake news, he’s going to be huge for us down the road,” Rojas said. “I’m glad that he had a really good first outing.”