Jacob deGrom appears healthy and he hasn’t gone MIA. Those are two significant positives. But the lanky right-hander has yet to claim the team’s absent ace throne, either.

“The stuff’s good,” manager Terry Collins said after the Mets’ 4-3 win over the Giants at Citi Field Monday night in which deGrom got a no-decision after striking out 11 and allowing three runs over six innings. “[But] he’s getting those deep counts, using a lot of pitches early in the game.”

Each of deGrom last two starts has followed a harrowing day in Mets land. Monday’s outing came the day after Matt Harvey’s three-game suspension was announced, and his previous start came after Noah Syndergaard suffered a partially torn lat muscle.

The Mets won each time deGrom toed the rubber, but in both cases, the performances were hardly memorable. The offense bailed him out against the Braves, a game in which he was touched up for eight hits and five earned runs over five innings. And while he was better on Monday, deGrom still failed to pitch into the seventh inning and was touched up for a pair of home runs.

“I would say better than the last one,” said deGrom, which was faint praise.

Through seven starts, deGrom has piled up the strikeouts — he has a National League-leading 60 — but has managed a mediocre-for-him 3.80 ERA. He has walked a surprising 19, and allowed 1.34 walks and hits per innings pitched, well above his career average of 1.11.

Command has been an issue, deGrom is living up in the zone, leading to strikeouts but also to six home runs.

“I honestly don’t know. It just seems like the ball has been up more than it usually is,” he said. “So we’re continuing to work on pitching down in the zone between starts. I left two balls up and they got hit over the fence.”

With Syndergaard out until at least July, Steven Matz and Seth Lugo unlikely to return until late May at the earliest, and Harvey’s off-the-field woes and inconsistency, the Mets need deGrom more now than ever. So while his effort was far from spotless, it beats the alternative, and was an improvement from his start five days ago.

“Tonight was better than Atlanta,” deGrom said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”