Great weather, a fantastic pitching matchup and two winning baseball teams.

The only thing missing for Mariner fans at Safeco Field on Sunday was a win by the home team. The Mariners lost 8-2 in front of a crowd of 40,142, with Angels phenom Shohei Ohtani outpitching Felix Hernandez in a game Seattle never seemed in after Hernandez allowed a pair of solo homers in the second inning.

Here are three takeaways from Seattle’s loss and from the six-game homestand.

Disappointing, not disastrous

This was only the second time the Mariners have lost a series, the other coming to close the last homestand against division foe Houston. Sure, home series against your biggest competitors are particularly important, but the Mariners finished the six-game homestand against Oakland and the Angels at a respectable 3-3. And while Saturday’s unlikely 9-8 win in 11 innings did not catapult the Mariners into a winning streak, it was a huge game nonetheless. There would be a much different feeling as the Mariners hit the road after being swept by the Angels.

Ohtani is really, really good

The Angels dual threat showed this weekend why the Mariners wanted him so badly.

On Friday, he had perhaps the biggest hit in the Angels’ 5-0 win, and and finished 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. On Sunday, he showed off his pitching ability, allowing two runs in six-plus innings. He tired in the seventh, allowing a two-run homer to Ryon Healy, but he was brilliant in his first six innings.

Sure, he has the fastball that approaches 100 mph and catches your eye, but he also has an impressive array of offspeed pitches, and he showed Sunday he is not afraid to use them, which was a good idea against a team like the Mariners who are excellent at hitting fastballs. A good example was in the fourth inning. After allowing a two-out hit to Kyle Seager, he threw a 99-mph fastball on the outside corner at the knees that Mitch Haniger could only sit and watch to make the count 1-2. Ohtani then followed with an 87-mph slider that dove out of the strike zone, but Haniger had already committed and went down swinging.

Mariners need more from their starting pitchers

It’s rather remarkable the Mariners are 19-14 after 33 games considering the starters have averaged 5 1/3 innings per start and have an ERA of 5.30. The Mariners have only had four starts last more than six innings (once each by Felix Hernandez, James Paxton, Mike Leake and Marco Gonzales). Hernandez needed 101 pitches to make it through 5 2/3 on Sunday, walking four Angels and allowing five runs.

Granted, starters are not expected to throw as many innings as they once were, but the Seattle bullpen is not good enough to withstand the workload they will have to endure at this rate. The bullpen wore down last season in the final couple of months because it was used so much, and that’s a big danger once again.

While the bullpen has been very good this season, this homestand proved that you can’t count on perfection, even from closer Edwin Diaz, who blew a save and lost a game this past week after looking like he might not give up another run all season.