Jake Arrieta wins National League Cy Young Award; Dodgers’ Zack Greinke is second

Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs won the National League Cy Young Award, it was announced Wednesday, edging out Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers.

Arrieta went 22-6 with a 1.77 earned-run average, including a record 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break. He led the league in victories, and opponents batted a league-low .184 off him. In his last 17 starts, he gave up as many home runs as he hit: two apiece.

Arrieta got 17 first-place votes and 169 points; Greinke got 10 first-place votes and 147 points; and Kershaw got three first-place votes and 101 points in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America.

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Greinke, 32, had a record of 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA, the lowest earned-run average of any major league starting pitcher since Greg Maddux posted a 1.63 ERA in 1995.

Greinke led the league in winning percentage and WHIP. He pitched at least six innings in each of his 32 starts, allowing no more than one run in 21 of them.

Kershaw went 16-7 with a 2.13 ERA, leading the league in innings pitched and becoming the first pitcher in 13 years to strike out 300 batters in a season. He became the first pitcher in major league history with 300 strikeouts and an ERA so low not to win the Cy Young Award, according to ESPN research.

Kershaw won the NL Cy Young Award in 2011, 2013 and 2014; a Dodgers pitcher has won 11 times in the 58 years since the franchise moved to Los Angeles. No other franchise has won more than seven Cy Young Awards.

Kershaw has finished among the top three in voting for five consecutive seasons. That is a feat never accomplished by Roger Clemens, who won a record seven Cy Young Awards.

Twitter: @BillShaikin

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