Cy Young Update: Red Sox’s Garrett Crochet, Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Power Rankings

Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet takes the mound Thursday against the Baltimore Orioles looking to state his case once again for the American League Cy Young Award.

Most pundits have Crochet battling Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who’s the reigning AL Cy Young winner. Back-to-back awards are within Skubal’s grasp, who remains ahead of Crochet in the latest starting pitcher power rankings.

In fact, Skubal ranks No. 1 overall, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes. But Crochet remains in the hunt at No. 3 overall.

“The Cy Young race between Crochet and Skubal is one of the closest award races to watch, MLB.com’s David Adler wrote Thursday. “Crochet is 14-5 with a 2.38 ERA and 207 strikeouts, which gives him a shot at a Triple Crown — if he can catch Skubal in the latter two categories down the stretch.

“Crochet just dominated the rival Yankees in his last start, throwing seven innings of one-run, 11-strikeout baseball,” Adler added.

Both Skubal and former Red Sox ace Chris Sale, now with the Atlanta Braves, won pitching triple crowns last season.

The last Boston pitcher to win the triple crown was Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. His historic 1999 season saw Martinez lead the AL in wins (23), ERA (2.07) and strikeouts (313).

As for Crochet, when he takes the mound trying to complete Boston’s four-game sweep of the Orioles, the left-hander will be looking to become the first 15-game winner in the AL. He’ll also be adding to his AL-best 166 and one-third innings pitched.

Crochet trails Skubal in ERA (2.38 to 2.28), strikeouts (212 to 207), K/9 (11.5 to 11.2), WAR (5.8 to 5.4) and WHIP (0.87 to 1.06).

The last Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award was Rick Porcello in 2016.

Speaking of wins, a victory today by Crochet would guarantee the Red Sox will remain in first place in the American League Wild Card standings. Boston woke up Thursday just a half-game ahead of the Yankees.