Umpire costs Tigers hurler perfect game

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Armando Galarraga squeezed the ball in his mitt, stepped on first base with his right foot and was ready to celebrate the first perfect game in Detroit Tigers’ history.

What happened next will be the talk of baseball for the rest of this season and likely a lot longer.

Umpire Jim Joyce emphatically called Cleveland’s Jason Donald safe and a chorus of groans and boos echoed in Comerica Park.

Then Joyce emphatically said he was wrong.

“It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the (stuff) out of it,” Joyce said, looking and sounding distraught as he paced in the umpires’ locker room. “I just cost that kid a perfect game.”

“I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay,” he said after the host Tigers’ 3-0 win.

It’s rare for an umpire to acknowledge a mistake and, in one of the few sports that relies heavily on the human eye, it’s certain to prompt a push for Major League Baseball to use increased replays.

As it stands, baseball replays can only be used for questionable home runs. There’s no appealing a judgment call, either by replay or protest.

Galarraga was trying for the third perfect game in the majors this year, including Roy Halladay’s gem last Saturday night.

On a play teams work on early and often in spring training, Galarraga and first baseman Miguel Cabrera did their jobs on what should’ve been the final out.

Donald hit a grounder in the hole between first and second, Cabrera fielded it and threw to first, where Galarraga caught the ball at least a step ahead of Donald, replays showed.

“I feel sad,” Galarraga said. “I just watched the replay 20 times and there’s no way you can call him safe. I wish I could talk to the guy that took a perfect game away from me.

“He needs to do a better job in that situation. It wasn’t even close,” he said.

Yankees 9, Orioles 1: Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson hit two-run doubles in the second to lead host New York past Baltimore.

Rays 7, Blue Jays 3: Carl Crawford hit a grand slam and Tampa Bay rallied at Toronto.

Red Sox 6, Athletics 4: David Ortiz hit a two-run homer to help host Boston rally past Oakland.

Angels 7, Royals 2: Torii Hunter homered and drove in three runs, leading Los Angeles at Kansas City.

Rangers 9, White Sox 5: Matt Treanor homered and drove in four runs, leading Texas at Chicago.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Braves 2, Phillies 1: Omar Infante’s RBI single in the eighth lifted host Atlanta past Philadelphia.

Cardinals 4, Reds 1: Matt Holliday homered and host St. Louis beat Cincinnati.

Dodgers 1, Diamondbacks 0, 14 inn.: Garret Anderson hit an RBI single in the 14th, leading host Los Angeles past Arizona.

Padres 5, Mets 1, 11 inn.: Adrian Gonzalez hit a grand slam in the 11th, leading host San Diego past New York.

Astros 5, Nationals 1: Carlos Lee hit a two-run home run, leading host Houston past Washington.

Giants 4, Rockies 1: Aaron Rowand hit a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth, leading host San Francisco past Colorado.

Brewers 7, Marlins 4: At Miami, Yovani Gallardo homered and picked up the win, leading Milwaukee past Florida.

Chicago at Pittsburgh, ppd., rain: The Cubs-Pirates game was postponed due to heavy rain.

The will be made up Monday at 9:35 a.m. PDT.