Kershaw, Kluber win Cy Young Awards
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw was a unanimous and unsurprising choice to win his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award and third in four years.
All the drama in Wednesday night's announcements came in the American League race, which was won by rising star Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians in a close vote over former winner Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.
Kershaw was picked first on all 30 ballots, becoming the youngest pitcher ever to win the award three times.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds finished second in the NL voting with 112 points -- 98 behind Kershaw -- and Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals was third with 97 points.
Kluber received 17 first-place votes and 169 points, beating Hernandez by just 10 points. It was the first time in his four-year career that Kluber received a vote in the Cy Young balloting.
Hernandez, the 2010 winner, picked up the other 13 first-place votes and was a runner-up for the second time. Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox finished in third place with 78 points.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kershaw, 26, picked up the 12th Cy Young Award won by a Dodgers pitcher, which is five more than any other NL team.
The only time in the last four years Kershaw didn't win the award, he finished second to knuckleballer R.A. Dickey in 2012.
The left-hander missed more than a month for the Dodgers between late March and early May because of a muscle strain in his upper back and was limited to 27 starts -- his fewest since he was a 20-year-old rookie in 2008.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kershaw said on the MLB Network broadcast announcing the awards that his stint on the disabled list might have been "a blessing" because he "got to stay strong down the stretch."
He tied a career high with 21 wins against a career-low three losses and set career bests with a 1.77 ERA, six complete games and an 0.857 WHIP, leading the majors in each category.
Kershaw threw his first no-hitter June 18 against Colorado -- a perfect outing but for Hanley Ramirez's throwing error in the seventh inning. Kershaw had 15 strikeouts in the game and 239 on the season.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He was the fifth NL pitcher to win the award in consecutive seasons and 14th to do it unanimously. The list of other pitchers to receive every first-place vote includes Dodgers greats Sandy Koufax and Orel Hershiser.
"To have my name put up with some of those guys is just unbelievable," Kershaw said. "It's a huge honor."
Kershaw's regular-season success hasn't carried over into the postseason, and this year was no different.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He lost both of his starts against St. Louis in the NL Division Series, giving up 11 runs in 12 2/3 innings as his career postseason ERA ballooned to 5.12 in 11 games, including eight starts.
"There are always ways you can get better, but as far as the regular season was concerned, it was a lot of fun for me," Kershaw said.
Asked how a pitcher with so much success can improve, Kershaw said he needs to work on being more consistent, and to develop a pitch he says has given him fits.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I can always figure out how to throw more changeups. That's my goal every offseason, to figure that out and I never do," he said. "Maybe next year."
In a bit of symmetry, Kluber also said he'd like to improve his changeup.
"I think there are times where I could throw that more and a little better," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The right-hander went 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA, 269 strikeouts and a 1.095 WHIP in a league-high 34 starts, throwing 235 2/3 innings.
Kluber's Cy Young candidacy grew in September. He won his last five starts while pitching to a 1.12 ERA in 40 1/3 innings, picking up the last of his three complete games on the season.
He was the third Indians pitcher to win the award since 2007, joining Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kershaw is also a finalist for the NL's Most Valuable Player award, which will be announced Thursday. He is competing with slugger Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins and 2013 winner Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The last pitcher to be named MVP in the NL was Bob Gibson in 1968.
World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting and Jordan Zimmermann of the Washington Nationals was fifth.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jon Lester, traded from Boston to Oakland during the season, finished fourth in the AL voting and Detroit's Max Scherzer was fifth after winning the award last year.