Jim Joyce muzzled over Armando Galarraga reunion

Jim Joyce muzzled over Armando Galarraga reunion

DETROIT — Jim Joyce said he was willing to talk about his return to Comerica Park and reunion with Armando Galarraga.

His bosses, though, wouldn’t let him.

“You know me — I’d normally do it in a heartbeat,” Joyce said about 90 minutes before Friday’s game between Detroit and Baltimore. “But I got a call yesterday from Major League Baseball saying that I’m under restriction, and that all interview requests have to be approved by them.”

Joyce was scheduled to work the plate for Friday’s game — the first time he umpired with Galarraga on the mound since the near-perfect game on June 2. On that night, Galarraga retired the first 26 batters, and appeared to have finished the perfect game on a grounder by Cleveland’s Jason Donald.

Joyce, though, called Donald safe, a call he tearfully acknowledged to be wrong shortly after the game. He then made a trip to the Tigers clubhouse to apologize to Galarraga.

The pair publicly reconciled the next afternoon, when Tigers manager Jim Leyland surprised Joyce by sending Galarraga to the plate with the lineup card. The pair hugged — a gesture that caused Joyce to tear up again. Joyce and Galarraga had one highly publicized meeting this summer, when they teamed up to present an award at the ESPYs.

Galarraga downplayed the reunion on Thursday.

“It was going to happen sooner or later — he’s going to do his job and I’ll do mine,” he said. “I’ll say hi to him like I do everyone else. It will be no big deal.”