Scherzer makes surprising history with first-inning homers

PHOENIX - Max Scherzer has made his share of history over the years. He's one of only 30 pitchers to throw multiple no-hitters. He's one of only 18 pitchers to win multiple Cy Young Awards. He's one of only four pitchers ever to strike out 20 batters in a nine-inning game.

But the history Scherzer made Friday night in a 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks was perhaps the most shocking thing he's ever done in the major leagues. Because you simply don't expect one of the best pitchers in the game to do it.

Scherzer opened his evening at Chase Field by allowing three consecutive home runs. In a span of only 10 pitches, the Nationals ace became only the fifth man in baseball history to give up back-to-back-to-back homers to begin a game.

"I don't think I've ever seen a game starting off with three homers," manager Dusty Baker said. "I'm sure Max hadn't seen it, either."

Hardly anyone has ever seen it. The most recent occurrence in the majors came May 10, 2012, when the Orioles blasted three straight homers off Rangers right-hander Colby Lewis to begin their game. The previous teams to do it: the 2007 Brewers, the 2003 Braves and the 1987 Padres.

So how on earth did David Peralta, A.J. Pollock and Jake Lamb do the seemingly impossible Friday night against Scherzer, who entered the game with a league-best 2.01 ERA and only three homers surrendered to his previous 245 batters?

To listen to Scherzer's explanation, the Diamondbacks simply had a crack scouting report on the right-hander and knew what pitches to look for in what sequence, based on his typical patterns.

"They had a great game plan against me," he conceded.

Peralta hammered a 2-1 fastball from Scherzer deep to right. Pollock took advantage of 2-0 fastball and cleared the fence in left field. Lamb then caught a 1-1 slider over the heart of the plate and sent it soaring to right for home run No. 3.

Just like that, three batters in, 3-0 Arizona.

"Sometimes in this game, you get punched in the face," Scherzer said. "And you've got to be able to take it and learn from it. And this is a great opportunity for me to learn from, because there's things I did today that you could tell they were keying on. My stuff's still there. I was able to collect some swings and misses when I needed to. There's nothing broke here. I've just got to fix some stuff that I'm doing sequencing-wise, come back out here next time and get them out."

The Diamondbacks weren't done against Scherzer, picking up another run in the bottom of the first and then another in the bottom of the second to extend their lead to 5-0.

To Scherzer's credit, the rally was halted right then and there. He managed to retire 11 of the last 13 batters he faced and keep the Diamondbacks from scoring again before his night ended after five innings and 98 pitches.

Could he at least take positives out of that fact?

"Eh, if I would've pitched the sixth, that feels better," he said. "When you give your team five innings, you don't really feel good about five innings. But sometimes, I say this, when you have a good game, the last 15 pitches kind of determine how you feel. Well, the last 15 pitches today were good. Sometimes you've got to take that and move on."