Walk-off no-no about as rare as they come

With the Marlins' Henderson Alvarez tossing a no-hitter on Sunday afternoon in Miami and the Tigers' pitching staff matching him zero for zero through eight innings at Marlins Park, the stage was set for a rare event in baseball history.

When Giancarlo Stanton rumbled home on Luke Putkonen's bases-loaded wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth, it gave the Marlins a 1-0 walk-off win. This was only the sixth time in Major League history a team won a no-hitter via walk-off, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

The last came on July 12, 1997, in a game between the Astros and Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium. Pittsburgh's Francisco Cordova tossed nine no-hit innings, but the game went into the 10th knotted at zero. After Ricardo Rincon held the Astros scoreless without a hit in the 10th, the Pirates won on Mark Smith's pinch-hit three-run homer off John Hudek in the bottom of the frame.

The last time a pitcher threw a solo no-hitter that ended on a walk-off was way back on May 15, 1952. The Tigers' Virgil Trucks held the Washington Senators hitless through nine at Detroit's Briggs Stadium, but his offense couldn't score against Bob Porterfield through eight. Then, with nobody on base and two outs in the ninth, Vic Wertz smacked a walk-off home run.

The Philadelphia A's Dick Fowler threw a nine-inning no-hitter in the second game of a doubleheader against the Browns on Sept. 9, 1945, and the A's won on Irv Hall's RBI single.

In an odd coincidence, the other two walk-off no-no's took place in the span of less than three months in 1908. On July 4, the Giants' Hooks Wiltse had one against the Phillies, and on Sept. 20, the White Sox Frank Smith notched one against the Philadelphia A's.