Home runs again bedevil Scherzer (Nats trail 5-3)

The Nationals didn't leave their bats at Coors Field. Unfortunately, Travis d'Arnaud also made sure to bring his to South Capitol Street tonight.

Despite early home runs from Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Wieters, the Nationals find themselves in a 5-3 hole thanks a pair of d'Arnaud blasts off Max Scherzer.

The normally light-hitting Mets catcher has hammered a pair of Scherzer fastballs to left field in his first two at-bats, producing a career-high five RBIs in only four innings.

In each instance, d'Arnaud homered off a Scherzer fastball. He took a 1-0 pitch deep to left in the top of the second, with outfielders Jayson Werth and Adam Eaton not even needing to turn around to watch the ball soar over their heads. Two innings later, he sent a 1-1 fastball flying to left-center, giving New York the lead.

Scherzer, who hadn't surrendered any home runs in his first three starts of the season, has now allowed four in his last 12 innings, all to Mets batters.

The Nationals had staked their starter to an early lead. Zimmerman drove a high fastball from Jacob deGrom to right-center for a solo shot in the bottom of the second. It was Zimmerman's ninth homer in 76 at-Nats to begin the season; he hit only 15 in 427 at-Nats last season.

A few minutes later, Wieters also connected off deGrom, launching a two-run homer to center to put the Nats on top, 3-2.

Update: It's still 5-3 Mets after six innings. Scherzer managed to straighten some things out and get through two scoreless innings, but Dusty Baker pulled him after 97 pitches and turned to his bullpen. Meanwhile, deGrom has kicked things into a higher gear as the night has played out. The New York righty recorded seven consecutive outs via strikeout at one point and has 12 total strikeouts through six innings.