‘Perfect’ save by umpire

PHOENIX — This time, Jim Joyce made the right call. You might say he was perfect.

A majorleague umpire for 24 seasons, Joyce gained notoriety in 2010 when his missed call at first base cost Detroit’s Armando Galarraga a perfect game.

But on Monday night, according to MLB.com, Joyce saved the life of an Arizona Diamondbacks food service employee when he performed CPR on Jayne Powers prior to the Dbacks’ game with the Marlins.

Joyce, who was scheduled to work the game behind the plate, arrived at the ballpark around 5:15 p.m. MST. He was walking down a ramp that leads to the umpire’s dressing room.

Nearby, a briefing of food service workers had just broken up, and Powers was speaking with a coworker. She suddenly grabbed her coworker’s arm, began to shake and then fell to the ground.

“I knew something was wrong,” Joyce told the website. “And I knew if something wasn’t done, this lady could actually die in front of me. It was more instinct than anything else.”

Joyce began to perform CPR, something he learned in high school.

“I’ve always stayed up with it,” Joyce said. “Everybody should know it. I truly mean that. ... Because if you only have to use it one time, it can, well ... you can see what happened.”

Powers was transferred to an ambulance, which took her to a local hospital, where she finally regained consciousness.

Joyce, meanwhile, went to the umpire’s room to get ready for the game. His fellow umpires offered to let him work third base. Joyce turned them down.

“I couldn’t stand on third base and think about it all night,” Joyce said.

Joyce and his wife, Kay, visited Powers in the hospital yesterday, and when the umpire walked into the room, he was so overcome with emotion, he was unable to speak.

“Thank God my wife Kay was with me, because she interpreted,” Joyce said.