Juan Soto hits first two homers at Citi Field as a Met in loss to Diamondbacks

Two things have been true this season: The Mets have dominated at home — so much so that they went into their matinee against the Diamondbacks having lost only twice at Citi Field this year. And Juan Soto largely hasn’t been part of that equation, at least not in the loudest, most obvious way.

Both those things changed Thursday.

Soto hit not one but two opposite-field home runs — his first in Flushing as a Met — but Zac Gallen silenced the offense and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen thwarted a late-inning comeback as the Mets fell, 4-2.

Wednesday and Thursday marked their first consecutive losses at home this season and their first losses at home on back-to-back days since last July. They dropped to 13-3 at home.

In his 56th Citi Field at-bat, Soto finally gave the crowd what it wanted — a 391-foot blast to left in the sixth inning that cut the Diamondbacks’ lead to 2-1. His 399-foot bomb off Kevin Ginkel in the eighth again got them to within one run.

“When I’m hitting the ball well that way [to the opposite field], things start getting better for me at the plate and I start seeing the ball better, deeper, and it’s a good sign,” Soto said. “I just tried to do damage with a mistake. [Gallen] made one mistake and I just didn’t miss it.”

After giving up Soto’s second homer, Ginkel walked Pete Alonso with one out, and Jesse Winker made it interesting when he doubled over centerfielder Alek Thomas’ head to put runners on second and third. Mark Vientos nearly tied it with a sacrifice fly, but the ball went just out of play before he struck out on a check swing. Ginkel then struck out Brandon Nimmo looking on a full-count sinker down the middle.

Tim Tawa’s homer off Reed Garrett in the ninth put the Diamondbacks back up by two; it was the first run Garrett had allowed this season in 11 2⁄3 innings.

Kodai Senga, who was bitten by the flu bug that has been circulating around the Mets’ clubhouse, decided to start anyway and gritted out a choppy four innings of one-run ball. But the bullpen, which just suffered significant losses in lefties A.J. Minter and Danny Young, coughed up runs in the fifth, seventh and ninth innings of a game in which the Mets never led.

It’s indicative of a broader concern. The relief unit, which had the lowest bullpen ERA in baseball up until three weeks ago, has dropped to eighth at 3.26 and is fourth in the majors in innings pitched. And though Mets starters have an MLB-best 2.24 ERA, they’re simply not pitching deep into games, making Minter’s injury (lat), which might be season-ending, and Young’s injury (elbow) an even bigger issue.

“We haven’t been able to get length out of it and then you’re asking four, five innings out of your bullpen every day — that’s hard to do,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We understand that . . . Every year, I feel like you’re going to go through stretches where you take the ball and go deep into games and there are going to be stretches where it’s going to be hard.”

The Diamondbacks scored their first run in the fourth, an inning that could have gone a lot worse for the Mets if not for a great play by Nimmo in left.

With one out and Eugenio Suarez on first, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled and Thomas lined Senga’s cutter to center for a single to drive in a run. Senga walked Tawa to load the bases and, with two outs, Corbin Carroll blasted Senga’s full-count ghost fork 365 feet to left, chasing Nimmo to the wall. He made the leaping catch, saving at least two runs and keeping the deficit at 1-0.

That, though, was taxing enough for Senga, who departed after 87 pitches, having allowed one run and five hits with three walks and six strikeouts.

Asked how he was feeling after needing an IV earlier in the day, Senga, through an interpreter, said, “Not great.”

“But I made the decision to go out there and pitch, so as a starter, I wanted to go six-plus innings,” he said

The Diamondbacks tacked on another run in the fifth. The newly recalled Genesis Cabrera issued a one-out walk to Pavin Smith and a double to Josh Naylor. That brought in Max Kranick, who allowed a sacrifice fly by Suarez.

Soto nicked Gallen in the sixth, hitting his opposite-field homer off a cutter down the middle. Gallen allowed one run and two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in six innings.

The Diamondbacks, though, got the run back off Kranick in the seventh when Geraldo Perdomo teed off on a 90-mph slider for a home run that gave them a 3-1 advantage.

With one out in the eighth, Soto completed his encore, lining the ninth pitch of his at-bat against Ginkel — a full-count fastball that got far too much of the plate — to left-center to cut the deficit to one and set up hope for late-game theatrics that never came.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.