On Thursday, the Mets did two things they haven’t done in over eight months: They lost on back-to-back days at home for the first time since July, and lost a regular-season home series for the first time since August.

Their 21-11 record, though, means that things are still not all bad. Here are three takeaways from the 2-1 series loss to the Diamondbacks:

This isn’t an overreaction: A.J. Minter’s lat injury seems to be headed toward season-ending surgery, and Danny Young’s elbow injury doesn’t sound too promising, either. That’s bad news for a unit that’s already been taxed heavily this season. They called up Genesis Cabrera to be the sole lefty in the bullpen, but that doesn’t feel like enough when their rotation isn’t giving them much length.

Thursday, a choppy outing by Kodai Senga – possibly the result of a flu that’s been percolating around the clubhouse – meant Carlos Mendoza had to coax five innings out of his relievers. The unit is already fourth in baseball in innings pitched (124 ¼) and it seems to be taking its toll, with their ERA ballooning from an MLB-best 1.27 ERA on April 9 to eighth at 3.26 by Thursday, when it gave up three runs.

It’s what everyone has been waiting for, right? Soto hasn’t exactly been a slouch – he’s slashing .252/.379/.443 – but an outsized contract is going to lead to higher expectations. He answered that call Thursday, hitting his first home run as a Met at Citi Field…and then his second.  They were both opposite field shots. He now has five for the year.

“We knew he was close,” Mendoza said. “When you’ve got a guy that controls the strike zone as well as he does, continues to hit the ball hard even when he goes 0-for-4 – I’ve been saying it the last couple of days, today, his first at bat, I think was 110 [mph] right at the shortstop. Yeah, he’s been hitting balls on the ground but now, finally, not only is he hitting balls there, but when he’s going in that direction, left center, he’s a pretty dangerous hitter. It was good to see that today.”

He’s now reached base in 13 consecutive games, and is slashing .342/.475/.649 in 32 games with seven homers and 28 RBIs; his 1.124 OPS is second only to Aaron Judge. He’s also continuing to etch his name in the Mets’ history books. In Tuesday’s win, he hit a solo homer for his 614th RBI as a Met, tying him for fifth in franchise history with Ed Kranepool. He’s just 19 homers away from Darryl Strawberry’s club record of 252.

He also looks like he’s just having fun being back in Flushing after an uncertain offseason.

“Every guy is contributing with unbelievable at-bats, whether it’s drawing walks, taking pitchers to deep counts…I think it’s just consistent quality at-bats from everyone in the lineup” he said Tuesday. “Everyone is comfortable. There’s great energy from the crowd. We have a great, great environment here, whether it’s fan reception, creature comforts at home in the clubhouse, familiar faces from staff and stuff like that – it’s a great environment to play.”