Miami, FL – Henderson Alvarez celebrated his no-hitter in an uncustomary place -- the on-deck circle.
The Marlins right-hander pitched the fifth no-hitter in club history, but was watching with a bat in his hand as Giancarlo Stanton raced home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Miami a 1-0 win over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.
Alvarez (5-6) struck out four and walked one, with another man reaching base on an error and another that was hit by a pitch, but the game went into the bottom of the ninth with no score.
With Luke Putkonen (1-3) on the mound, Stanton singled with one out and Logan Morrison followed with a base hit. A wild pitch moved the runners up a base, but Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to short for the second out.
Chris Coghlan then walked to load the bases, bringing Koyie Hill to the plate with Alvarez on deck.
Putkonen, though, uncorked a wild pitch that got past Brayan Pena and Stanton raced home for the score to give Alvarez his no-hitter.
"I was so excited," Alvarez said through an interpreter. "I thought by the ninth inning that I just needed three outs for the no-hitter. With my emotions and nerves, I kind of lost track that we hadn't scored a run yet."
It's the first time a Marlin has thrown a no-hitter since Anibal Sanchez, now with the Tigers, turned the trick on Sept. 6, 2006 against Arizona.
Alvarez's feat allowed Miami to go into the offseason with something nice to build on, as the team went an NL-worst 62-100 and finished in last place in the NL East for the third straight year.
Detroit, on the other hand, went 93-69 and will head into the postseason after taking home the AL Central crown for a third straight season. The Tigers, swept in three games to conclude the season, will begin the playoffs on the road as they will travel to Oakland when the Division Series starts on Friday.
"This could be a good thing," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said of his team being no-hit. "This could be a wakeup call for our offense."
Justin Verlander pitched six innings for the Tigers and gave up just three hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts.
Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch in the first inning, Jose Iglesias reached base on an Hechavarria error in the fifth and Andy Dirks worked a walk in the ninth to account for all the baserunners for the Tigers.
Miami had just one runner reach second base through the first eight innings.
Game Notes
The other Marlins no-hitters were thrown by A.J. Burnett in 2001, Kevin Brown in 1997 and Al Leiter in 1996 ... It was Alvarez's first shutout and complete game of the season, and second shutout and complete game in his career ... It was the third no-hitter in the majors this season ... Detroit went 42-39 on the road this season, while Miami was 36-45 at home ... Game Time: 2:06.
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