Alvarez hurls no-hitter

Associated Press

MIAMI — Henderson Alvarez pitched a no-hitter with a most bizarre ending, celebrating in the on-deck circle when the Miami Marlins scored on a two-out wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the AL Central champion Detroit Tigers 1-0 Sunday.

After Alvarez finished off the ninth with the game scoreless, he had to wait to see if it would become an official no-hitter. A Major League Baseball ruling in 1991 said only complete games of nine or more innings with no hits would count.

The Marlins loaded the bases and with pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs at bat, Luke Putkonen (1-3) threw a wild pitch that let Giancarlo Stanton score.

Alvarez was on deck, bat in hand. He took off his helmet and started to celebrate with teammates while still wearing his batting gloves.

Later, Alvarez went into the stands to hug his pregnant wife and kiss her belly.

It was the first of the majors’ 282 no-hitters to end on a wild pitch, STATS said.

Alvarez (5-6) struck out four, walked one and hit a batter against a patchwork Tigers lineup on the last day of the season. The 23-year-old righty from Venezuela capped a dismal season for the Marlins in which they finished at 62-100.

Alvarez pitched the fourth season-ending no-hitter ever, and first since Mike Witt of the Angels threw a perfect game at Texas in 1984.

ROCKIES 2, DODGERS 1

LOS ANGELES — Michael Cuddyer won his first batting title and Todd Helton singled in the final game of his career to help the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The NL West champion Dodgers, who lost four of their last five games to finish 92-70, will open the NL division series at Atlanta on Thursday.

The Dodgers said they won’t have center fielder Matt Kemp in the postseason because of swelling in a bone in his left ankle.

Cuddyer went 1 for 5 and finished at .331 to win the title by 10 points over Atlanta’s Chris Johnson.

Helton was 1 for 4 with a walk, singling his first time up. The first baseman is retiring after 17 seasons.

The sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium gave him a standing ovation before his last at-bat.

Jeff Francis (3-5) won and Rex Brothers got his 19th save in 21 chances. Hyun-Jin Ryu (14-8) took the loss.

PIRATES 4, REDS 2

CINCINNATI — Jordy Mercer hit an inside-the-park homer and triple, and the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a three-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in a matchup of teams that will play for the NL wild card.

They’ll open the postseason on Tuesday night at Pittsburgh, the Pirates’ first playoff game in 21 years. They’ve met five times in the playoffs: 1970, 1972, 1975, 1979 and 1990, when the Reds won their last World Series title.

Johnny Cueto (5-2), who is 8-2 career at PNC Park, will face Francisco Liriano (16-8), who is 0-3 in four starts against Cincinnati this season.

The Reds dropped their last five games, matching their season high.

Brandon Cumpton (2-1) gave up a pair of hits in five shutout innings. Kyle Farnsworth got his second save. Greg Reynolds (1-3) took the loss.

BRAVES 12, PHILLIES 5

ATLANTA — Evan Gattis had a two-run homer among his three hits, Elliot Johnson drove in five runs and the NL East champion Atlanta Braves beat Philadelphia.

The Braves won their first division title since 2005. They will have home-field advantage against the Dodgers in the NL division series, which begins Thursday at Turner Field.

Atlanta (96-66) finished with its best record since also winning 96 games in 2004. After the victory, players gathered for a photo around a 2013 banner that was placed on a stand in front of the mound.

Julio Teheran (14-8) allowed four runs in five innings. Zach Miner (0-2), who began his career in the Braves’ organization, gave up five runs on seven hits and three in only 2 1-3 innings.

CARDINALS 4, CUBS 0

ST. LOUIS — Matt Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals clinched home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs when they beat the Chicago Cubs for their sixth straight win.

With the top seed, the NL Central champions will host the wild-card winner in Game 1 of the best-of-five division series on Thursday.

Joe Kelly (10-5) pitched 5 1-3 innings of three-hit ball. The Cardinals matched their longest winning streak of the season and finished 97-65, their most since reaching 100 in 2005.

The Cubs finished last in the Central at 66-96. Jeff Samardzija (8-13) got the loss.

GIANTS 7, PADRES 6

SAN FRANCISCO — Hunter Pence singled home the winning run with no outs in the ninth inning to lift the San Francisco Giants over San Diego.

Francisco Peguero hit his first career home run leading off the ninth to tie it as Huston Street (2-5) blew his second save in 35 chances.

The Giants, who last season won their second World Series title in three years, finished 76-86 and tied for third with the Padres, 16 games behind the NL West champion Dodgers.

DIAMONDBACKS 3

NATIONALS 2

PHOENIX — A.J. Pollock beat out a run-scoring infield single in the eighth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks sent Washington manager Davey Johnson into retirement with a loss.

The Diamondbacks scratched out a pair of runs off Ryan Mattheus (0-2) in the eighth to finish the season at 81-81.

METS 3, BREWERS 2

NEW YORK — Eric Young Jr. won the NL stolen base crown and helped the New York Mets rally when Milwaukee botched two bunts in the eighth inning.

Young swiped two bases in the first, scored on a shallow sacrifice fly and later threw out a runner at the plate from left field. He began the day tied for the NL lead in steals at 44 with Milwaukee shortstop Jean Segura, who sat out for the 10th time in 11 games because of a strained right hamstring.

INDIANS 5, TWINS 1

MINNEAPOLIS — The surging Cleveland Indians earned their first postseason berth since 2007, beating the Minnesota Twins 5-1 Sunday to clinch an AL wild card as Ubaldo Jimenez tied a career high with 13 strikeouts.

Nick Swisher homered in the first inning for the Indians, who became the first major league team to win its final 10 regular-season games since the 1971 Baltimore Orioles finished with 11 straight victories, according to STATS.

Cleveland will host Tampa Bay or Texas in the one-game AL wild-card playoff on Wednesday night. The Rays and Rangers are playing a tiebreaker today.

RANGERS 6, ANGELS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas —Texas forced a one-game tiebreaker for the second AL wild-card spot, winning its seventh straight when Geovany Soto hit a tiebreaking RBI double and later homered to beat Los Angeles.

The Rangers (91-71) added game No. 163 to the regular season, and will host Tampa Bay on Monday night. The winner plays two days later at wild-card leader Cleveland in another win-or-be-done matchup.

RAYS 7, BLUE JAYS 6

TORONTO — Evan Longoria and Tampa Bay assured the Rays would tie for an AL wild-card berth, scoring six runs in the first inning and then holding off Toronto.

Tampa Bay and the Rangers, who beat the Angels, tied for the second wild-card spot. They will play Monday night in Texas to decide who faces Cleveland in the wild-card game Wednesday.

Longoria hit an RBI double as the Rays used their highest-scoring first inning since 2010 to go ahead early. Tampa Bay took a 7-0 lead into the sixth before Toronto rallied.

ORIOLES 7, RED SOX 6

BALTIMORE — Ryan Flaherty had two hits subbing for Chris Davis after baseball’s home run champ left with a sprained wrist, and Baltimore wrapped up its season with a victory over playoff-bound Boston.

Flaherty hit an RBI single in a five-run fifth and a run-scoring double when the Orioles took the lead for good in the sixth.

Davis was hurt in the fourth inning when his arm got in the way of Jacoby Ellsbury on a play at first. The player who accepted the Orioles’ MVP award before the game walked off to a standing ovation, finishing tops in the majors in both homers (53) and RBIs (138).

The Orioles finished 85-77, giving them back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1996-97.

The Red Sox finished up 97-65, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the best record in baseball. Boston will open its division series at Fenway Park on Friday against the winner of the AL’s wild-card playoff.

YANKEES 5, ASTROS 1 (14)

HOUSTON — Mark Reynolds hit a tiebreaking homer in a four-run 14th inning, and New York went into an offseason of uncertainty with a victory over Houston, whose 15-game losing streak was the longest at the end of the season in more than a century.

Mariano Rivera didn’t pitch in the final game of a career that started in 1995, and Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson were among the players unsure whether they had played their final games for the Yankees (85-77).

Bothered by sore legs, Alex Rodriguez also didn’t get into the game. The appeal of his 211-game drug suspension starts today.

New York finished with its fewest wins in a non-strike season since 1992 and failed to make the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years. Manager Joe Girardi’s contract is expiring, and he hasn’t said whether he wants to come back for a seventh season.

Houston (51-111) set a team record for losses and had the most in the majors since Arizona lost the same number in 2004. The Astros finished with the lengthiest season-ending losing streak since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders dropped their last 16, according to STATS.

ROYALS 4, WHITE SOX 1

CHICAGO — Bruce Chen pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and Kansas City beat Chicago to finish off its best season in 24 years.

Kansas City won three of four in Chicago and went 17-10 in September for its most successful month of the season. The Royals’ 86-76 record was their best mark since they went 92-70 in 1989.

Chen’s sharp outing put a damper on what might have been the final major league game for White Sox captain Paul Konerko, who is eligible for free agency and isn’t sure if he will play again next year. The veteran first baseman is second in franchise history with 427 homers and 1,361 RBIs, and third with 2,249 hits.

Chen (9-4) allowed one run, struck out four and walked three in 6 2-3 innings.

Jose Quintana (9-7) pitched seven innings to reach 200 for the season. He was charged with four runs and six hits.

ATHLETICS 9

MARINERS 0

SEATTLE — Sonny Gray threw five shutout innings and Oakland had a pair of four-run innings to close out the regular season with a win over Seattle in Eric Wedge’s final game as Mariners manager.

The A’s now turn their attention to the AL Division Series against Detroit that will begin Friday in Oakland, while Seattle (71-91) enters the offseason with another managerial search on the docket after a 12th straight season without the making the playoffs.

Oakland gave a few of its starters the finale off, while some others made cameos before getting a rest before beginning the postseason.

Chris Young got Oakland started with a two-run single in the second, followed by RBI doubles by Seth Smith and Brandon Moss. Alberto Callaspo had an RBI single in the fifth, followed by an RBI double from Josh Reddick and a two-run single by Daric Barton.

Gray (5-3) struck out eight and gave up three hits.

Oakland finished with 96 wins, its most since reaching that total in 2003.