Pedro Martinez gave the Mets enough to encourage them Friday night.

Making his first start since July 12 after dealing with the death of his father and a groin strain, Martinez gave up three solo homers to the Astros but pitched solidly otherwise in an eventual 7-3 loss.

Martinez was able to go slightly over his projected limit, throwing 87 pitches, and allowed just five hits in five innings. He walked just two, and although his fastball topped out at 91 mph, Jerry Manuel thought Martinez was on the right track.

“Pedro was OK for a guy who hasn’t pitched in 20 days,” Manuel said. “That’s pretty good. He showed some arm strength as he went along. I look forward to seeing his next start.”

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Aaron Heilman was making his third consecutive multi-inning appearance Friday night when he surrendered a decisive pinch-hit grand slam to Mark Loretta in the bottom of the eighth.

Heilman threw three innings last weekend against the Cardinals, two innings Tuesday against the Marlins and was on track for another two-inning stint Friday before Loretta’s blast caused him to be pulled after 1 innings.

Does Heilman think his recent woes stem from over-use?

“I wouldn’t say so,” he said. “I felt good going back out there for the second inning. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the adjustment. The ball was running on me. Balls that were normally sinking were running up.”

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Right fielder Ryan Church will be re-evaluated in New York next week as he tries to move closer to coming off the DL.

Church is with the Mets in Houston and is doing baseball activities as well as regular conditioning. Manuel said Church will have to make a minor-league rehab assignment of a handful of games before returning, so Church now appears unlikely to rejoin the Mets before the middle of August.

Church has been on the DL since July 6 with post-concussion syndrome.

bhubbuch@nypost.com