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Juan Soto’s first home runs as a Met in Queens belong in the franchise history books, probably alleviated some pressure and sure were a welcome sign for the club.
They did not prove especially timely, though.
Held homer-less in his first 15 games at home, Soto went deep twice Thursday — which might have been the only memorable moments from a 4-2 loss to the Diamondbacks in front of 36,239, who witnessed the Mets drop their third series of the year.
Carlos Mendoza’s group (21-11) lost consecutive games at home for the first time since July and wasted an afternoon that had the potential to be special.
Soto — who has faced an increasing spotlight because of at-bats that have not produced results and fielding that looked particularly spotty Thursday — appeared to realize that he does not have to worry about finding holes in the defense if he simply hits the ball over the defense.
After knocking three homers in his first 31 games this year, he came through with his first multi-homer game as a Met.
In the sixth inning, he injected life into Queens with an opposite-field shot — just one of the two hits the Mets collected off Zac Gallen, who dominated for six innings and resumed dominating after the blip.
In the eighth, Soto once again helped the fans believe in bringing the Mets within one run with his second dinger of the day, a long shot to left-center off Kevin Ginkel, but again the Mets would not get over the hump.
After Soto’s blast, Pete Alonso (walk) and Jesse Winker (double) reached scoring position with one out. But Mark Vientos could not lay off a Ginkel slider that slid outside the strike zone, and Brandon Nimmo struck out looking.
Tim Tawa drilled a homer off Reed Garrett in the ninth for an insurance run before a fruitless bottom of the ninth for the Mets.
The Mets’ bullpen, which has been excellent all season but has begun incurring injuries amid a mounting workload, buckled first with newcomer Genesis Cabrera and later with Garrett.
Cabrera was charged with a run in the fifth, when he walked Pavin Smith and served up a strange double to Josh Naylor — a well-struck ball to right-center that everyone could see except Soto. The right fielder took several steps forward, then began retreating too late.
Only center fielder Tyrone Taylor had a chance at a catch, and he smacked against the wall without securing the ball.
Max Kranick then entered and allowed a sacrifice fly to put the Mets down, 2-0, a gap that Soto could not close singlehandedly.
The bullpen was pressed for extra work again because Kodai Senga lasted just four innings in which he let up a run on five hits and three walks, using his six strikeouts to navigate out of a few jams.
The righty needed 28 pitches to get through two innings and then threw 29 pitches in the third and 30 in the fourth, when he allowed his only run.
The Mets’ rotation continues to post solid numbers without solid length.
Senga ran into trouble initially in the third, when two singles put two on with one out. Senga walked one more in the inning but struck out Corbin Carroll and Smith to escape.
He was less fortunate an inning later, when three straight singles turned into a run. Alek Thomas came through with the RBI single up the middle, and Tyrone Taylor’s throw from the outfield was cut off by Jeff McNeil, who had the trail runner, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., out at third base — but McNeil’s throw hit Gurriel, which allowed him to slide in safely and allowed Thomas to reach second. Senga then walked Tawa to load the bases with one out, but some clutch pitching (inducing a pop-out from José Herrera) and clutch defense (a leaping play from Nimmo at the left-field wall) kept the deficit at one.
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