The Indians lost to Detroit, 3-0, Wednesday night, but they probably don't feel as bad as Jim Joyce, who was working first base. Joyce's two-out call in the ninth inning cost Detroit's Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
Detroit's Armando Galarraga kept a smile on his face, but his teammates were furious when umpire Jim Joyce (right) incorrectly called Jason Donald safe at first base and denied Galarraga a perfect game Wednesday night at Comerica Park. "If I had been Galarraga, I would have been the first person in my face," said a dismayed Joyce after the game, "and he never said a word to me.”• Umpire Jim Joyce could have used expanded instant replay
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• See earlier story and reader comments Box score | Photo gallery DETROIT, Mich. -- Out of all the things that were said Wednesday night at Comerica Park, umpire Jim Joyce said it best.
"No, I did not get the call right," said Joyce.
When Joyce called shortstop Jason Donald safe at first base with two out in the ninth inning, he cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game in Detroit's 3-0 victory over the Indians at Comerica Park. It would have been the third perfect game and the fourth no-hitter thrown this season.
"It was the biggest call of my career," said Joyce, "and I kicked it."
It was 24 Indians up and 24 down as Galarraga cruised through eight innings with a 3-0 lead. Mark Grudzielanek, who has 30 hits this season, all singles, tried to change that leading off the ninth. Grudzielanek sent a bolt to deep left center. Not only was he going to get his first extra-base hit of the season, but Galarraga's perfecto was about to say oh no.
Then rookie center fielder Austin Jackson caught the ball over his shoulder near the warning track. Galarraga smiled the smile of a man who knew immortality was close at hand. There have only been 20 perfect games thrown in history.
When Mike Redmond grounded out weakly to short, the crowd of 17,7389 sounded like 40,000. Donald sent a 1-1 pitch between first and second base. First baseman Miguel Cabrera probably should have gone back to first. Instead he chased the ball, grabbed it right in front of second baseman Carlos Guillen, turned and threw to Galarraga at the bag.
Cabrera pumped his fist in celebration after watching Galarraga catch the ball and step on first before Donald reached the bag, but Joyce emphatically called him safe. Goodbye perfect game. Goodbye no-hitter.
"It was so bang-bang that I thought for sure I'd get called out because of everything at stake," said Donald. "When I saw Cabrera go for the ball, I knew it would be a foot race with the pitcher. As soon as I hit it, I knew it would be one of those tricky plays."
Donald took second and third on defensive indifference. After Trevor Crowe grounded out to third for the final out, the Tigers rushed onto the field to congratulate Galarraga (2-1, 2.57) and confront Joyce.
It was a dangerous scene, especially with the Tigers playing in front of their home crowd.
"I don't blame them a bit for anything that was said," said Joyce. "I would have said it myself. If I had been Galarraga, I would have been the first person in my face ... and he never said a word to me."
Said Galarraga, who started the season at Class AAA Toledo, "[I feel] happy and sad. I was so nervous, I was smiling. I don't know what to say. For sure that kind of call doesn't happen every day. We're human. Nobody is perfect. He'll [Joyce] probably feel bad after he sees the replay."
Joyce said he thought he made the right call until after he saw the play on replay.
The game was played at hyper-speed. It lasted 1 hour and 44 minutes. It was the fastest game by the Indians since they lost to Toronto, 5-1, on June 6, 1982 in the same 1:44.
Galarraga, who struck out three, threw 86 pitches, 67 for strikes. He threw first pitch strikes to 24 of the 28 batters he faced. He entered the ninth inning with 77 pitches.
The Tigers called up Galarraga from Toledo on May 16. Before he arrived, he faced Columbus, the Indians' Class AAA team, twice and beat them both times. Donald and Shelley Duncan started this year at Columbus.
"He did the same thing to us in Columbus," said Donald. "I think he was perfect through seven. I told Shelley on the bench, 'We've seen this before.'"
"His slider just kept getting better and better."
Fausto Carmona (4-4, 3.53) went the distance in defeat. He struck out three and allowed two earned runs in eight innings. Carmona threw 96 pitches, 66 for strikes. He gave up a leadoff homer to Cabrera in the second. The Tigers added two more runs in the eighth with two out.
"I think that was my best game of the season," Carmona said.
Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a perfect game Saturday night at Florida. Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics did it against Tampa Bay on May 9. Until then, there had never been two perfect games in the same season in the modern era.
Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a no-hitter, too, at Atlanta on April 17.
The Indians' best chance at a hit before Grudzielanek's drive came in the fifth when Russell Branyan bounced a ball off Galarraga's foot. But the ball deflected to third baseman Brandon Inge, who threw out Branyan by a step.