The Good, The Walk-Off, and The No-No Marlins Recap: Miami Marlins vs Detroit Tigers 9/29/13

It’s the last game of the 2013 season and everyone is talking about the AL Wild card race, how are the Marlins going to make people forget about that? Welcome to The Good, The Walk-Off, and The No-no. Quick rundown- The Good: We won 1-0; The Walk-Off: Wild Pitch; and The No-No: Henderson Alvarez. Let’s dive on in and see what made the baseball world forget for a few moments about the crazy AL race.

The Good:

We beat the Tigers 1-0 to sweep them this series and end the season on a 4 game winning streak. Although that is good, it wasn’t the best part.

The Walk-Off:

Neither team could score a run today. This was mainly because Justin Verlander struck out 10 Marlins players, but he couldn’t go the distance only lasted 6 innings. In comes the bullpen who held it until the 9^th. Justin Ruggiano started the 9^th with a ground out. Up next comes Giancarlo Stanton who singles into centerfield with a 3-2 count. Logan Morrison hit the first pitch and sent it to center field. With Adeiny Hechavarria at the plate, Luke Putkonen throws a wild pitch advancing the runners, so now we have players at 2^nd and 3^rd with 1 out! Hech, unfortunately,  grounds out to the shortstop. Up comes Chris Coghlan, who falls behind early 0-2, but fights back to draw the walk. We have the bases load with 2 outs and up comes Greg Dobbs. What happens next? Does Dobbs line a single? Nope. Grand slam? Nope. Hit by Pitch? nope… How about a wild pitch that scores Giancarlo? YUP! You read that right, the first pitch goes through Brayan Pena legs and Giancarlo scores the winning run! Yet, that still that wasn’t the best part!

The No-No:

Sep 29, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins third base coach Joe Espada (left) ducks away after pitcher Tom Koehler (top left) and pitcher Jose Fernandez (right) both dump gatorade on pitcher Henderson Alvarez after Alvarez threw a no hitter against the Detroit Tigers at Marlins Ballpark. The Marlins won 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

A few months back someone asked me why do I still watch Marlins game even though they aren’t going to be that good. My response was A- I love this team, B- I cheer for my team win or lose, and C- you never know what’s going to happen. Today was a perfect example of that. Alvarez this season came into the game with a 4-6 record and an ERA north of 3.60; but today he was magical. He started the 1^st with no hits, then went into the 2^nd going 1-2-3, onto the 3^rd again 1-2-3, again in the 4^th, in the 5^th there was an error but still no hit, 6^th 1-2-3, 7^th yup 1-2-3, and ended the 8^th with a K looking. Finally in the 9^th Alvarez got Alex Avila and Don Kelly to ground out to him. He just needed  1 more out and he walks Andy Dirk. Here comes Matt Tuiasosopo to the plate. He gets the count to 3-2 and… STRIKE OUT SWINGING! A NO HITTER! The first by a Marlin in Marlins Park! This was also the first walk-off no-hitter in the majors since 1952! Wow!

What a way to end the season! A no-hitter walk-off. I had a blast this season and I hope you guys did to. We had our ups and we had our downs, but as long as you love your team and cheer them on you are always a winner. Till next season as always: Let’s Go Marlins!