PHOENIX (AP) – Three straight homers off Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer in the first inning had the Arizona Diamondbacks set up for an easy victory over the NL East leaders.
Instead, they needed Brandon Drury’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth for a 6-5 victory Friday night.
The home runs by David Peralta, Pollock and Jake Lamb to start their first at-bat helped stake the Diamondbacks to a 5-0 lead against Scherzer.
“We did a great job getting his pitch count up and also putting runs on him,” the Diamondbacks’ A.J. Pollock said. “Great getting on him early. We would’ve loved to have (scrapped) a couple of runs in the middle of the game, but the key point is we won the game and we came through in the end.”
The first-inning feat was the first in the majors since Baltimore did it against Texas on May 10, 2012. It was the first time in Nationals history (2005 to present) that an opposing team has hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.