An imperfect moment

Armando Galarraga and umpire Jim Joyce

Armando Galarraga seems to have pitched a perfect game for Detroit 15 years ago Monday, but that is before first-base umpire Jim Joyce inexplicably calls Cleveland’s Jason Donald safe on an infield groundout-turned-hit with two outs in the ninth inning.

Television replays clearly show Donald is out, but that does not matter as Major League Baseball does not fully adopt instant replay reviews and challenges for another four years.

The missed call at night …

Galarraga then retires Trevor Crowe on another grounder to complete a 3-0 shutout and the most disappointing one-hitter in baseball history.

No one, though, is more disappointed than Joyce, whose call costs Galarraga his otherwise just place in history before a Wednesday night crowd of 17,738 in Detroit.

For his part, Galarraga feels bad not for himself but for Joyce, whom he briefly sees in passing after the game.

“I saw a guy who still feels terrible,” Galarraga gracefully tells MLB.com in 2020 on the 10th anniversary of his almost-perfect game. “(Joyce) had his head down and said he was sorry. I put myself in his shoes.

… the handshake the next day

“I was trying to think of how we can focus on the solution and not the problem. Let’s not point fingers,” Galarraga says. “You have to understand: Don't erase a guy’s 25-year career for one mistake. We all make mistakes. I understand how professional he is. He has a lot of respect from a lot of players, all the strength that he had, all this experience. He had a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

“And in that position, for me everything was flowers, for him everything was negative. A lot of people said really negative stuff. We clicked at that point. We didn’t know at that point the news was going to be so big.”

The news continues the next day as the Tigers send Galarraga — rather than manager Jim Leyland or a coach — to home plate for the pregame lineup exchange.

The plate umpire that day is Joyce.

He and Galarraga end the pregame meeting with an embrace.

A perfect end to an imperfect moment.