Finishing on a high: Henderson Alvarez no-hits the Tigers

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While attention was focused on the sprint to the finish for the AL wild card contenders, Miami quietly completed a weekend sweep of the AL Central champion Tigers with a 1-0 walk-off win in the first no-hit game pitched by Henderson Alvarez.

In the first ever season-ending inter-league game, Alvarez required only 99 pitches to retire the Tigers who reached base only 3 times, on a 1st inning hit by pitch, a 5th inning error and a 9th inning walk, all with two outs. No Tiger would reach second base.

Alvarez came to Miami from Toronto in the blockbuster trade last off-season that sent Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and Jose Reyes to the Blue Jays. For the Marlins, this was the franchise’s 5th no-hitter, following Al Leiter in 1996, Kevin Brown in 1997, A.J. Burnett in 2001, and Anibal Sanchez in 2006.

Alvarez struck out only four Tigers to record his no-no, tied for the second fewest Ks among the 43 no-hit games of the past twenty seasons. Only Justin Verlander and Francisco Liriano (both in a 5 day span in 2011) had as few whiffs in a no-hit performance.

For Alvarez, today was the second complete game and second shutout of his young career. Pitching his 58th career game, Alvarez is tied for the 37th fastest searchable no-hitter from the start of a career. Quiz: who are the only two pitchers with two no-hitters in the first 58 games of their careers?

Among 192 searchable no-hit games, Alvarez is the 18th youngest pitcher. Boston’s Clay Buchholz in 2007, fellow Marlin Anibal Sanchez in 2006, and the Cardinals’ Bud Smith in 2001 are the only younger pitchers with a no-hitter since another Alvarez (Wilson in 1991) became the second-youngest searchable pitcher with a no-hit game, only older than Vida Blue in 1970.

Today was only the second searchable no-hit game on the final day of the season. The only previous occasion was in 1984 when the Angels’ Mike Witt tossed a perfect game to beat Texas 1-0. This was also only the 3rd searchable no-hit game to be decided in walk-off fashion. The only previous occasions were by Dick Fowler of the Athletics defeating the Browns 1-0 on Sep 9, 1945, and Virgil Trucks of the Tigers blanking the Senators 1-0 on May 15, 1952.

The winning run for the Marlins today was scored with two outs by Giancarlos Stanton who singled, advanced to second on a single by Logan Morrison, then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a second wild pitch, both delivered by Tiger reliever Luke Putkonen. Had the Marlins not scored, Alvarez would have been forced to extra innings to preserve his no-hit bid, something achieved in the searchable era only twice before (both by the visiting Reds in beating the Cubs 1-0), by Jim Maloney in 1965 and by Fred Toney in 1917.

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birtelcom

11 years ago

Youngest to toss a no-no since Buchholz in 2007. Third-youngest in the searchable era to throw a 1-0 no-no, after Feller in 1940 and Eckersley in 1977.

11 years ago

So Pittsburgh ends the season by sweeping a 3 game series in Cincinnati and as they reward they get to play….Cincinnati! I realize that Pittsburgh will get to play at home for the one-game series but it still strikes me as odd. Before the final series they were tied 8-8 in head to head games…shouldn’t sweeping your opponent on their field settle things once and for all???

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Only other time this happened was in 1980 when LA swept Houston at Dodger Stadium to finish tied for the AL West. Dodgers won the coin toss so they stayed in LA for the playoff, but Houston finally won the game they needed for the division title when Joe Niekro pitched a CG for his 20th win.

Beating a team four straight time is tough under any circumstance. I too think it would ring rather hollow for Cincinnati to win tomorrow after getting clobbered over the weekend.

bstar

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

Hollow indeed. Just one more piece of evidence that having only a one-game roll of the dice is a bad idea.

Evil Squirrel

11 years ago

Reply to bstar

It’s not a bad idea… just one of many incentives for teams to WIN THEIR DIVISION, or face the many fickle fates that encircle playing for the wild card. Why is this simple maxim conveniently ignored by so many of the new playoff format’s detractors?

11 years ago

A question for the PI subscribers. The Indians ended the season having no players between 25 and 200 PAs. I wonder if that’s happened before (non-pitchers only). I see there are teams that have had only one player between 25-200 PAs but not sure if any team has had none.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

The 1982 Red Sox had none.

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Thanks Richard!!! Much appreciated!!

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

Also, the 1903 Giants and 1903 Athletics had none.

Incidentally, this year’s Yankees tied the 1916 Athletics for the most such players with 18.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Doug

And the 1902 Senators.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Unless you count Al Orth’s 15 games in the field in which he probably had 25+ PAs.

Orth had 187 PAs overall, with 38 games pitched (36 complete). Could have had over 162 PAs in just his pitching games, but probably not.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

@32
Doug: Here are IP and PA stats for some 1902 pitchers who never played any other position:
Player………………IP……PA
Vic Willis…….…410…..161
Cy Young……….384……153
T.Pittinger….389…..153
Eddie Plank…300…..128
R. Donohue……316…..127
Bill Philips…….269…..124
Frank Kitson……268…..121

Al Orth had 324 IP and 187 PA. By looking at the above list one could estimate his PA, if he only pitched, at something like 130-140 PA. That would leave 47-57 PA while he played at the other positions.

Hartvig

11 years ago

I wouldn’t call it finishing on a high if you’re a Tiger fan like me!

But if memory serves didn’t the Giants falter a little at the end of the season a couple of years ago when they went on to beat Detroit in the World Series?

Got to look for a way to put a positive spin on everything when this time of year rolls around.

11 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Hartvig – I assume you mean the ’06 Cardinals? They’re the team that beat the Tigers a few years ago…the Giants beat them last year!

Anyway, that Cardinal’s team basically slumped the whole year. They went 49-58 from July onward but caught fire in the playoffs.

Hartvig

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

No, I actually meant LAST year- I’m guessing either I wasn’t fully awake yet or just had another brain fart.

So I actually went and checked. The Giants 2 BEST months were August (18-11) and Sept/Oct (20-10)

So that wasn’t something I wanted to hear.

And then you had to remind me of 2006.

I guess I’ll just to and cry myself back to sleep for a couple more hours;)

Evil Squirrel

11 years ago

Reply to Ed

The ’06 Cardinals are proof that April and May games do in fact matter, and count just as much as those played in August and September (but not October)….

no statistician but

11 years ago

Reply to Evil Squirrel

Also the 1958 Yankees, in a more severe playoff situation. The Yanks that year went 29-32 from July 27 on. They, too, won the WS. Tanked the following year, however, finishing a distant third. As did the 2007 Cards.

Editor

Bryan O'Connor

11 years ago

Doug, I’m curious as to why Devern Hansack’s five-inning no-hitter on the last day of the 2006 season doesn’t show up here or in similar pieces I’ve read. Does MLB require 8 or 9 innings to award an official no-hitter?

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to Bryan O'Connor

Yes, official no-hitters must be 9+ innings pitched. Even losing an 8-inning no-hitter on the road doesn’t count – you have to get 27 (or more) outs to be official.

donburgh

11 years ago

@2 Ed,

You certainly won’t get an argument from me. Season series: 11-8, overall: 94-90, and yet the Pirate season could end in very gut-wrenching circumstances tomorrow.

Doug,

I guess the PI can only search individual no-hitters? On 7/12/1997 Mark Smith ended the Cordova/Rincon ho-no with a homer. (As was covered so well by Andy on an HHS podcast.)

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to donburgh

Yes. I was just looking at individual no-hitters.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to donburgh

donburgh: The PI can also search for team no-hitters. In the game searchable era there have been 192 individual no-hitters and 202 team no-hitters. This leaves 10 no-hitters that were by 2 or more pitchers.

JasonZ

11 years ago

A no-hitter is defined by Major League Baseball as follows: “An official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings.

David W

11 years ago

Reply to JasonZ

Ironically, you can throw a complete game, allow no hits and it is not an official “no hitter”. Andy Hawkins threw an 8 inning complete game in 1990 for the Yankees, losing 4 to 0 in the 9th to errors and walks, but allowed no hits.

Jason Z

11 years ago

Reply to David W

…as the 1991 rule change states, the game must consist of
at least nine innings.

Poor Andy.

Lost his no-hitter twice.

Editor

Bryan O'Connor

11 years ago

Reply to JasonZ

Thanks, Jason.

mosc

11 years ago

Other game notes: Saturday’s Yankees victor was Pettitte’s 256th and final for his career but also tied his 2013 wins and losses at 11, preventing the first loosing season of his long career. He already had a 14-14 .500 season under his belt back in 2008. The Yankees will probably be looked back on as falling apart at the end of September, getting swept by the Rays but that’s not entirely fair. They went 6-9 over their last 15 but they would have missed the playoffs going 11-4 over that stretch as well. They practically had to win out to… Read more »

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to mosc

Pettitte’s 18 seasons of never having a losing record is a record. Urban Shocker and Deacon Phillippe are tied for second with 13 such seasons. Tim Hudson has 15 such seasons but is not yet retired.

Brett Gardner is the first Yankee to lead the AL in triples since 1957 when Hank Bauer and Gil McDougald led with 9. Harry Simpson also had 9 but only 3 were as a Yankee.

JasonZ

11 years ago

My favorite factoid from a long final week of Yankee farewells is this…

Whitey Ford 438 starts for the Yankees.

Andy Pettite 438 starts for the Yankees.

Jason Z

11 years ago

I was lucky to have attended my first Yankee game on April 24, 1976 against the Kansas City Royals. Lucky that it was the dawn of a new dynasty that would continue through 1981. 5 AL East Titles 3 Pennants 2 World Championships. One begins to feel entitled. Then a 13 season dry spell. Punctuated when Bud Selig cancelled the 1994 season with the Yankees sitting atop the AL East at 70-43, 6.5 games ahead of the Orioles. That one hurt. The Yankees were on their way to ending a drought that reminded all of the 1965-75 editions. Those teams… Read more »

Luis Gomez

11 years ago

Hard to believe that few K´s by Verlander on his no-hitter.
Henderson Alvarez thought he had a no-no when he recorded the 27th out. What an ending for another great baseball season.

paledave

11 years ago

Re Doug’s quiz: Steve Busby 1973-74 Royals.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

Reply to paledave

And Johnny Vander Meer in 1938.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

Reply to paledave

Both right.

Busby’s no-hitters were in games 10 and 58. Vander Meer’s were in games 31 and 32.

Richard Chester

11 years ago

I haven’t seen or heard this mentioned anywhere but a PI search indicates that the Astros’ 15 game losing streak is the longest such streak to end a team’s season.

11 years ago

Fun with numbers dept:

Brandon Crawford’s BA.
2012: .248
2013: .248

Brandon Belt’s OBP.
2012: .360
2013: .360

Yet both were markedly improved with the bat this year.

Author

Doug

11 years ago

With Pittsburgh making the playoffs this season, only Toronto and Kansas City have yet to reach the post-season in the wild card era (since 1995). The last playoff appearance for both franchises was as world champion. Since then, Toronto has finished higher than 3rd in its division only once (in 2006), and Kansas City has done so only 3 times (last in 1995).

Not only has everyone else made the playoffs, all but the Nationals have reached the LCS round since 1995.