NEW YORK (AP) Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma and Koji Uehara led an exceptionally strong showing by Japanese pitchers in voting for the American League Cy Young Award.
Darvish of the Texas Rangers was second and Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners came in third Wednesday, marking the highest finishes by Japanese pitchers in any Cy Young race. Uehara of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox was seventh.
Detroit ace Max Scherzer won the award.
Until this year, the top Cy Young finishes for Japanese pitchers had been fourth place, by Hideo Nomo in the NL in 1995 and 1996, and by Daisuke Matsuzaka in the AL in 2008.
Takashi Saito, eighth in the 2006 NL balloting, and Darvish, who finished ninth last year, were the only other Japanese pitchers to receive Cy Young votes until this season.
