It proved to be an unwelcome return home for the New York Mets.

Opening up the homestand with three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Mets dropped two out of three to lose the series and fall to 7-6 on the year.

While there were some standout moments, a hit-and-miss offense, poor defense, and some bad pitching performances ultimately doomed the Mets.

Let’s recap everything in the latest edition of 3 Up, 3 Down…

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3 UP

PITCHING GEM

Without a doubt, the highlight of this series for the Mets was Nolan McLean‘s stellar outing on Thursday. The righty was sensational, firing 6 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing only three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. It was arguably the best pitching performance of the season so far for New York, with McLean further highlighting his elite ability. And the numbers don’t do McLean’s dominant outing full justice. While the Mets went on to lose the finale, McLean stole the show in many ways and continues to look like the future ace of this team. I mean, he got 26 called strikes on Thursday, which is tied for the most in a game this season. In short, McLean is making accomplished hitters look average at the plate.

HERO BALL

Called up because of Juan Soto going on the IL, Ronny Mauricio delivered a real statement moment in the opener of this series. On a day when the Mets showed plenty of grit, Mauricio stepped to the plate in the bottom of the 10th with a chance to do something special. And he did just that. The infielder ripped a single to right field to score Francisco Lindor and seal the walk-off win. It was the fourth win in a row for the Mets, and also Mauricio’s first big league at-bat of the year. Talk about stepping up and making an impact.

SETTLING INTO A GROOVE

After a slow start to life as a Met, Bo Bichette is starting to find his game offensively. The former Blue Jay is looking more like himself at the plate, and he’s delivering the kind of results we all know he’s capable of. Over his last six games, Bichette is hitting .346/.393/.385/.777. That includes four hits against Arizona. Granted, there is still a lot more to come, but Bichette looks to be trending in the right direction.

Photo Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images

3 DOWN

GROWING PAINS

The front office made sure that improving the defense was a priority this offseason, hence why it has become such a big talking point. Signing the likes of Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco to play new positions on the diamond ran counter to the organization’s stated aim. And, a couple of weeks into the season, the whole experiment doesn’t look to be going so well. There have been defensive mistakes in almost every game, including throughout this series. That was painfully evident in the finale, with both Brett Baty and Mark Vientos getting caught out in new positions.

Bichette is struggling defensively at third, while Polanco’s health has stopped him from getting many reps at first base. Even Luis Robert Jr., who is a natural center fielder, made a couple of defensive mistakes in this series. All in all, it is still early and there is plenty of time for the Mets to iron out these early defensive kinks.

STRUGGLE CITY

While pitching has been a strength to start this year, there was some regression against Arizona. Freddy Peralta has yet to really hit his stride. On Tuesday, he pitched just 4 2/3 innings while allowing three earned runs. In all, the righty is pitching to a 4.80 ERA over his first three starts as a Met. On the more extreme end of the scale, the concerns around David Peterson continue to grow. The lefty was pummeled early in his start on Wednesday, allowing five earned runs over the first two innings. He did recover to retire 11 of his last 12 batters, but the damage was already done at that point.

Then, on Thursday, Luke Weaver allowed two earned and two inherited runs to score in a game-changing inning. Weaver entered the game having allowed just one hit across five scoreless innings, but his first bad night as a Met proved costly.

LACK OF SUPPORT

The offense certainly didn’t help the cause against the Diamondbacks. After scratching out four runs in the series opener, the lineup was held to just three runs total over the final two games. Over that span, the Mets went a combined 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, leaving a total of 15 runners stranded on base. The lineup also struck out a total of 13 times over the final two games. While there were other factors that led to the two losses, the Mets will struggle to stack up wins if the offense can’t get anything going.