MIAMI -- With the bases loaded, two outs and the score 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Henderson Alvarez stood in the Miami Marlins on-deck circle, bat in hand, hoping to complete his no-hitter. Matt Bosher Jersey . Alvarez had blanked the Detroit Tigers for nine innings -- and briefly, mistakenly thought he had pitched a no-hitter. But the Marlins needed a run for him to achieve the feat. "I was nervous and anxious," he said through a translator. "I started praying, Please give us a run. I was hoping for a wild pitch." Thats exactly how Miami scored. Giancarlo Stanton crossed the plate standing up when a breaking ball skipped to the backstop, and Alvarez had his no-hitter, beating the Tigers on the final day of the regular season Sunday, 1-0. Alvarez -- who had been due to hit next -- took off his batting helmet and began to celebrate with teammates in the on-deck circle while still wearing his batting gloves. When the happy hopping scrum finally broke up, pitcher Jose Fernandez came away holding Alvarezs uniform top. "They were pulling on my jersey and choking me, so I took it off," Alvarez explained. Later, the 23-year-old Venezuelan went into the stands to hug his pregnant wife and kiss her belly. Of the 282 no-hitters in history, it was the only one to end on a wild pitch, STATS said. And it was the first walk-off complete-game no-hitter since Virgil Trucks of the Tigers threw one on May 15, 1952 against Washington. "Thats the beauty of baseball," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "You never know what youre going to see. On the last day of the season, what a treat." Alvarez needed the run for his no-hitter to be official, because a Major League Baseball ruling in 1991 said only complete games of nine or more innings with no hits count as no-hitters. Alvarez got it when Luke Putkonens first pitch to pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs was low and inside, eluding catcher Brayan Pena. Alvarez (5-6) struck out four, walked one and hit a batter against a patchwork Tigers lineup on the last day of the season. When he closed out the top of the ninth, he pumped one fist and then both, thinking the game was over. He remained confused until he got to the dugout and a teammate explained the situation to him. "With the emotion and nerves, I didnt realize we hadnt scored a run yet," a sheepish Alvarez said. "At the time I thought the game was 1-0. I threw my hands up and thought the game was over." Redmond said he would have sent Alvarez out to pitch the 10th inning, but that wasnt necessary. The right-hander capped a dismal season for the Marlins, who had the worst record in the NL at 62-100. He pitched the third no-hitter this year, joining Homer Bailey of Cincinnati and Tim Lincecum of San Francisco. Miami acquired Alvarez from the Toronto Blue Jays on Nov. 19 in a blockbuster trade. In that deal the Blue Jays got pitchers Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson, as well as infielders Jose Reyes, John Buck, and Emilio Bonifacio. Toronto sent Alvarez, Adeiny Hechavarria, Jeff Mathis, Yunel Escobar, Jake Marisnick, Anthony DeSclafani and Justin Nicolino to the Marlins as part of that trade. It was the fourth season-ending no-hitter ever, and first since Mike Witt of the Angels threw a perfect game at Texas in 1984. In 1975, Vida Blue and three Oakland relievers combined to no-hit the Angels and in 1892, Bumpus Jones of Cincinnati did it against Pittsburgh, STATS said. With the Tigers playoff slot settled, they rested four starters and had pulled three others by the seventh inning. Miguel Cabrera, who won his third consecutive batting title, never stepped to the plate. The Tigers post-season assignment was determined before the weekend, and theyll start a division series at Oakland on Friday. Prior to the game, Tigers manager Jim Leyland acknowledged he and his players were already thinking ahead. "I want to play this game, I want to win this game, but I want to get this over with and get home," Leyland said. "Guys are anxious. They want to get to the post-season." Alvarez made the Tigers eagerness work to his advantage. "He had a lot of movement, and he fed off the fact they were swinging aggressively," Redmond said. Twice the Tigers were robbed of hits by fine defensive plays, including Alvarezs leaping snare of Don Kellys one-hopper before he threw to first for the second out in the ninth. Alvarez struck out Matt Tuiasosopo on a 3-2 pitch -- his 99th -- to end the top of the ninth. Then he needed the help from the Marlins offence, which is last in the majors in runs. Stanton singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Putkonen (1-3) and took second on a single by Logan Morrison. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and they held as Adeiny Hechavarria grounded out to the shortstop. After Chris Coghlan walked to load the bases, Putkonens first pitch to Dobbs got away. Stanton scored standing up with his arms raised, and the Marlins mobbed Alvarez. At last it was official: Alvarez had his no-hitter, the fifth in Marlins history, and his first since grade school. Baseball appointed an eight-man committee on statistical accuracy in 1991 that defined no-hitters. That dropped 50 disputed games from the no-hit list. Alvarez, acquired by the Marlins in a blockbuster trade with Toronto last November, was on the disabled list until early July with right shoulder inflammation. His only previous complete game was May 4, 2012, a six-hit shutout for the Blue Jays against the Angels. He hadnt pitched more than 7 1-3 innings this season, and the no-hitter came in his 58th career start. The Tigers came close to a hit several times. Shortstop Hechavarria caught Ramon Santiagos liner in the third with an acrobatic leap. Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander, who is 0 for 27 lifetime, hit a drive to right field that landed foul by a couple of feet in the sixth inning. "You need to have a little luck to throw a no-hitter," Redmond said, "and we definitely had that today." Alvarez hit Prince Fielder in the back with a breaking pitch with two out in the first inning, then retired 12 batters in a row before Jose Iglesias reached on an error by Hechavarria in the fifth. Alvarez retired another 12 in a row before he walked Andy Dirks on four pitches with two out in the ninth. Verlander struck out 10 in six scoreless innings in his final tuneup for the playoffs. The Tigers right-hander allowed only three hits -- but three more than Alvarez. "He threw a heck of a ballgame," Verlander said. "To do something like that is pretty impressive." The previous pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the Marlins 21-year history was Anibal Sanchez -- now with the Tigers -- who did it in 2006 against Arizona. Sanchez watched from the visitors dugout as his fellow Venezuelan celebrated the feat. "It was great to be a part of such an exciting moment for this guy," Sanchez said. "He threw a great game, and Im really excited he did that." The last time the Tigers were no-hit was July 26, 2010, when Tampa Bays Matt Garza beat them 5-0. "I knew I was pitching a no-hitter early in the game, that it was a gem," Alvarez said. "I really wanted to finish it." NOTES: Marlins 2B Donovan Solano was held out of the lineup but said he felt fine less than 24 hours after being hit in the helmet by a 95 mph fastball. ... Tigers pitchers had 13 strikeouts Sunday and finished with 1,428 this season, a major league record. ... The crowd of 28,315 pushed Miamis final attendance total to 1,586,322. Playing in a ballpark that opened last year, they had the second-worst average attendance in the majors, ahead of only Tampa Bay. Ricardo Allen Jersey . -- The Denver Broncos locked up a shutdown cornerback, only his name wasnt Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Desmond Trufant Jersey . -- David Price didnt think he would be in Port Charlotte this spring.NEW YORK -- LaMarcus Aldridge struggled with his shot for much of the game, so the All-Star was confident about his last attempt. It was just time for him to make a big play. Nicolas Batum had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Wesley Matthews scored 18 points, and the Trail Blazers overcame poor-shooting nights by two of their best players in a 94-90 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Aldridge finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds while shooting just 5 of 17 from the floor, but he knocked down a turnaround jumper with 35 seconds left after the Knicks had cut Portlands lead to two. "I had the whole game to miss shots so I felt like I was due some makes," Aldridge said. "Law of averages have to catch up sooner or later. I had made one easy one, one tough one. So I felt like I was going to make it." All-Star Damian Lillard shot 4 of 12 for his 12 points, but he and Aldridge were far from the only frigid shooters on a snowy day in New York. The Trail Blazers made just 38 per cent, but the Knicks hit only 40 per cent of their attempts and were 4 of 21 from 3-point range. "I thought our defence all game was pretty good. I thought for us to win a game shooting 38 per cent, its not an easy thing to do," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. New York star Carmelo Anthony scored 26 points but was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in the fourth quarter, finishing 11 of 28 as the Knicks dropped their third straight. The Knicks were within one after a strong start to the fourth, then had just two baskets and five points over the next 7 minutes -- and still had a chance to pull it out. "Whenever you hold a team to 38 per cent or whatever it is that we held them to, I mean, you think youre going to win. But obviously that wasnt the case tonight," Knicks centre Tyson Chandler said. Portland, missing free throws and layups throughout the fourth, couldnt put it away even while the Knicks were making just two of their first 18 3-point attempts. J.R. Smith and Tim Hardaway Jr. then made consecutive shots from behind the arc, cutting it to 89-87 with 50 seconds left. Aldridge made a turnaround jumper 15 seconds later, and after Annthony missed a drive, Mo Williams made a pair of free throws to make it a six-point game. Deion Jones Jersey. . Smith made three from the line after Batum fouled him behind the arc, but Lillard made one to make it 94-90, and the Knicks missed their final 3-point attempt. Anthony was frustrated throughout the night, picking up one technical foul and waving his arm in disgust toward referee Dan Crawford a few times. He appeared to be yelling toward him after the buzzer. "It was just one of them nights. Just as far as shots go, couldnt find it coming down the stretch," Anthony said. "I dont want to speak on the calls. Nothing I can do about that right now, nothing we can do about it." Smith had 18 points and Amare Stoudemire, getting the extra minutes he sought, scored 15. Portland, which has had one of the NBAs best records all season, had dropped three of four and five of its last eight games. But the Blazers did just enough to rebound from Mondays 100-90 loss at Washington, its only one in nine road games against the Eastern Conference this season. Aldridge missed 10 of his first 11 shots and the Blazers led by two before he made a short jumper over Raymond Felton while being fouled with 3:25 left in the third quarter, starting Portlands run of seven straight points that made it 70-61. The lead hit 11 in the final minute on Dorell Wrights three free throws, and it was 77-68 entering the fourth. New York ran off the first eight of the final period, pulling to 77-76 on Pablo Prigionis 3-pointer with 8:16 to play. But Williams made a 3-pointer from the corner to steady the Blazers just about the time the Knicks stalled. The Knicks were without forward Kenyon Martin, who will rest a sore left ankle for at least the next week. NOTES: Anthony was announced before the game as the Eastern Conference player of the month for January, when he averaged 28.7 points and 9.0 rebounds. ... Boxer Manny Pacquiao was at the game. ... The Knicks paid tribute to actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, a fan of the team who died Sunday. ... 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