Boston Red Sox ace Rick Porcello and Washington superstar Max Scherzer have claimed contrasting Cy Young award victories as the best pitchers in the MLB.
Porcello took out one of the closest votes in the history of the award in finishing ahead of the Detroit's Justin Verlander 137-132 for the American League Cy Young gong, with Cleveland's Corey Kluber third with 98 points.
Verlander received 14 first-place votes to eight for Porcello, but slipped behind him because he was left off two of the 30 ballots, which each allowed five pitchers to be named.
Porcello originally came up with the Tigers and was a teammate of both Verlander and Scherzer.
"Justin had a great year and I learned a lot from him playing in Detroit. Obviously, I wish him well in the future and big congratulations to Max for winning his second," Porcello told reporters on a conference call.
Scherzer, who won the American League award in 2013, received 25 of the 30 first-place votes in a runaway victory over Jon Lester, who was a distant second ahead of Chicago Cubs teammate Kyle Hendricks.
The hard-throwing righthander was 20-7 with a 2.96 ERA for the Nationals. He led the NL in wins, starts (34), innings (228 1/3) and strikeouts (284) and tied the major league record with 20 strikeouts against the Tigers on May 11.
Verlander, who won the 2011 Cy Young and MVP award, suffered his second Cy Young near miss.
In 2012, Verlander lost to the Tampa Bay Rays' David Price 153-149 in the closest total since ballots permitted voting for more than one pitcher in 1970.
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