Leak, Power Outage at MLB Ballparks Cause Delays

First the fountain leaked. Then the lights went out.

A pair of oddball incidents at MLB stadiums this weekend caused delays in Kansas City and Los Angeles.

At Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, a game between the Royals and the Cleveland Indians was delayed for 30 minutes while the grounds crew dealt with flooding caused by a burst pipe in the stadium’s signature outfield fountains. According to the Associated Press, flooding began during the fourth inning of Friday night’s game, and water began to leak onto the field when players in the Royals bullpen shouted to notify officials of the problem.

Out west, fans in Los Angeles dealt with a delay of their own when the lights went out in the 12th inning of a Saturday night game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. The Los Angeles Times reports that the blackout was caused by a circuit malfunction. One fan captured the moment the lights went out on Twitter.

Moment the power went out at Dodger Stadium #dodgers #whoforgottopaythebill pic.twitter.com/z6YrVbhf6R

— Dave (@davelanzarin_) August 26, 2018

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said on Twitter that while an automatic switch restores power to Dodger Stadium quickly when such an outage occurs, lighting systems and equipment take time to reset.

When a momentary disruption in power to @Dodger Stadium occurs, an automatic switch restores power within seconds. Stadium lights and internal stadium equipment take time to reset. LED lights remaining on indicate a momentary outage occurred.

— LADWP (@LADWP) August 26, 2018

It was the second time in less than a month that a power outage hit Dodger Stadium — the first coming on July 30 when a similar situation delayed a game about 21 minutes.

Both games eventually resumed play. Both the Royals and Dodgers won their disrupted contests.