Miami Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara rode his major-league best six complete games to become a unanimous winner of the National League Cy Young Award, it was announced Wednesday on the MLB Network.
Alcantara is the third Dominican-born pitcher to win the award. Pedro Martinez (1997, 1999, 2000) won it three times and Bartolo Colon won it in 2005. He is the 15th unanimous Cy Young winner and American League winner Justin Verlander became the 16th an hour later.
Alcantara, 28, received all 30 first-place votes and the maximum 210 points in balloting by 30 Baseball Writers Association of America voters.
Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried finished second with 72 points and Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias was third with 66.
“I’ve made it, the third Dominican player to win a Cy Young and that’s something I will never forget,” Alcantara said on the MLB Network. “I feel so special right now. I hope this is special for my country and my team.”
Alcantara is the first Marlins’ pitcher to win the honor.
Alcantara went 14-9 with a 2.28 ERA and led the majors in innings pitched (228 2/3) and complete games (six). He was an All-Star for the second straight season.
Alcantara’s ERA was third-lowest in Marlins’ history behind Kevin Brown (1.89 in 1996) and Jose Fernandez (2.13 in 2003).
“I can’t wait to see everybody in spring training and give thanks to everyone,” Alcantara said.
This is just the second time both the NL and AL winners were unanimous choices in the same year. The other time was 1968, when Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers was the AL winner and Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals won the NL award.
Urias, 26, went 17-6 with an NL-best 2.16 ERA. He struck out 166 in 175 innings.
Fried, 28, made the NL All-Star team for the first time and went 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA. He struck out 170 in 185 1/3 innings.
Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (48) was fourth and Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen (45) was fifth.
–Field Level Media
