DENVER — Starling Marte returned Saturday from the bereavement list and immediately reminded the Mets of his value to this lineup. 

On the first pitch he saw in the first inning, Marte crushed a 94-mph fastball from German Marquez for a two-run homer, setting the Mets on a course from which they never veered. 

In the first game of a split doubleheader, the Mets beat the Rockies 5-1 at Coors Field for a third straight victory and fourth in five games. 

Marte, who left the team earlier in the week to mourn the death of his grandmother, finished 2-for-5 as the Mets scored four runs in the first two innings, providing a nice cushion for starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco. 

The right-hander rebounded from a rough start against the Mariners last Sunday, allowing one earned run on seven hits over 5 ¹/₃ innings. Carrasco allowed only one hit for extra bases and didn’t walk a batter. 

The doubleheader was necessitated by the postponement due to wintery conditions Friday, the second straight season in which a Mets visit to Coors Field included a snow-out. The Mets also had two games snowed out during a 2013 visit. 

No stranger to doubleheaders, the Mets were set Saturday to play their fifth of the season and 19th since the beginning of 2021 (by far the most of any MLB team). They had earned at least a split in their previous 18 doubleheaders, a franchise record for avoiding sweeps, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. 

Marte’s blast set the tone in Game 1. Brandon Nimmo singled leading off the game before Marte homered 444 feet to left-center. The homer was Marte’s fourth of the season. 

“It’s a hard situation because it’s one of those things that is going to be in my mind for a very long time,” Marte said of his grandmother’s death. “But being around the team, in a sense it is kind of a distraction, but … things happen in life and we’re just going to try to go along with it.” 

Patrick Mazeika stroked a two-run double in the second that extended the Mets’ lead to 4-0. Dominic Smith reached on Jose Iglesias’ error leading off and Luis Guillorme singled before Mazieka delivered. 

Francisco Lindor brought in the Mets’ fifth run with a two-out single in the sixth. Guillorme’s third single of the game started the rally and Marte also singled. 

Iglesias’ two-out infield single in the sixth pulled the Rockies within 5-1. C.J. Cron doubled leading off the inning against Carrasco and Brendan Rogers singled, prompting manager Buck Showalter to insert Adam Ottavino. 

Drew Smith fired a perfect seventh inning for the Mets. Seth Lugo pitched two scoreless innings to finish it. The six-out appearance was Lugo’s longest of the season.