Nationals’ Max Scherzer has easy time against team that drafted him

After all these years, Max Scherzer finally got to throw against the team that drafted him in its home ball park.

The right-handed starter was taken 11th overall by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2006 amateur draft. After playing in parts of two seasons in the big leagues with the D-backs, he was traded to Detroit in December 2009, which is where he’d spend the next five seasons. And in 2010, Scherzer allowed four hits and two walks while striking out eight across seven innings in a 3-1 Tigers win over Arizona.

Now in his first year with the Washington Nationals, Scherzer finally got to take the mound again at Chase Field on Monday.

The 2013 American League Cy Young winner had an easy time against his former team, in more ways than one.

For starters, D-backs batters didn’t exactly make much of an offensive threat, managing just five hits and one run — a solo homer — in seven innings against the 30-year-old Nationals starter.

Also, Scherzer had a lot of breathing room thanks to the brilliance of his teammates. Nationals batters reached home four times in the first inning and another six times in the second, forcing D-backs starter Josh Collmenter to get pulled after 1.1 frames — the shortest start by an Arizona pitcher this season.

The lead was so large that Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale gave two-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt the rest of the night off after his first at-bat.

Sherzer went on to even his record at 3-3 and drop his ERA to 1.99. He walked just one Diamondbacks batter and struck out six while tossing 94 pitches in his return to Phoenix.

Washington won by a final of 11-1, handing Arizona its largest defeat this season.