Scherzer, Kluber capture Cy Young awards as top pitchers

Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer won his third career Cy Young Award and Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber captured his second American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday. The Major League Baseball honors went to the veteran hurlers, whose teams both bowed out in league playoff semi-finals, in voting by a media panel. Scherzer, a 33-year-old right-hander, beat out teammate Stephen Strasburg and Los Angeles Dodgers star Clayton Kershaw to take his second National League Cy Young in a row. He also won the AL version of the award in 2013 while playing for the Detroit Tigers. Scherzer went 16-6 with a 2.51 earned-run average (ERA) and led the NL with 268 strikeouts in 200 2/3 innings. He became the 10th pitcher in major league history to win back-to-back Cy Young awards and the 10th with three of the trophies. In voting, Scherzer received 27 of the 30 first-place ballots and was listed second on the other three, which went to Kershaw, who went 18-4 with an NL-leading 2.31 ERA. Kershaw, 29, threw 25 fewer innings than Scherzer after missing more than a month with a lower back strain. Strasburg went 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA and 204 strikeouts in 175 1/3 innings for the Nationals. Kluber, who won his first AL Cy Young in 2014, went 18-4 with an AL-best 2.25 ERA for the AL Central Division champions in 2017. The 31-year-old right-hander struck out 265 batters in 203 2/3 innings over 29 starts. Kluber, the 19th pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, was named first on 28 of 30 ballots and second to Boston Red Sox left-hander Chris Sale on the other two. New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino was third. Kluber owned a 5.06 ERA on May 2 before spending nearly a month on the disabled list but returned in June and went 15-2 with a 1.62 ERA over his final 23 starts. Sale (17-8, 2.90 ERA) led the majors in strikeouts with 308.