Former Tigers ‘mates take home Cy Young Awards

DETROIT — Jim Leyland watched the Cy Young Award announcement on MLB Network from his home in Pittsburgh. Justin Verlander checked into the show from his vacation in Italy. Max Scherzer was on video from a boat off the Virgin Islands, where he was on a scuba diving trip. Rick Porcello was at home with family.

For one night, the current and former Tigers were all linked again. It wasn’t a happy reunion for all, given the voting results of Porcello’s win over Verlander, but with two Cy Young Awards and a runner-up finish, Wednesday was another reminder of the gifted rotation Detroit had for five years.

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“I was fortunate enough to see it live for many years,” Leyland said. “What a pleasure it has been. It’s still been obviously a big pleasure since I’ve been gone, but I was fortunate to see it firsthand. It’s great. It’s absolutely great. Scherzer, Verlander, Porcello … it’s pretty impressive.

“It was an honor to be their manager, I can tell you that. And I had a lot of fun.”

Verlander and Porcello started their careers pitching for Leyland three years apart. Scherzer joined them in 2010 after a season and a half in Arizona. They grew up as pitchers under the watch of Leyland and pitching coach Jeff Jones, especially Porcello, who was slotted into the Tigers’ rotation as a 20-year-old in ’09 after only one season at Class A Advanced Lakeland.

“Jonesy was extremely influential to me for the first six years of my career,” Porcello said. “The biggest thing that he was able to teach me, and I was kind of able to maintain, was …

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