Another Power Outage At Tropicana Field Delays Rays-Angels Game [VIDEO]

by Collin HelwigJune 17, 2019, 10:46 amNews >

Moments before Angels starter Tyler Skaggs came home with the ball while pitching during the fourth inning, things went dark in the Sunshine State. For the second time during this season, the lights malfunctioned at Tropicana Field, a technical issue which resulted in a blanket of darkness momentarily covering the Tampa Bay Rays’ entire ballpark.

The power outage occurred while the Angels owned a 3–0 lead against the hometown Rays. Thankfully, the issue failed to affect the affair’s results, as the delay only warranted a brief, 36–minute intermission before Los Angeles closed things out with a 5–3 road victory. The game included Angels young star Shohei Othani‘s first career cycle and also home run number 200 off the bat off Albert Pujols.

Despite the annoyance generated from another game disrupted due to the Trop’s technical difficulties, the incident provided decent entertainment with all things considered. During the outage’s early stages, fans did their best to illuminate the ballpark themselves, waving their phone flashlights as if at a concert. Rays pitcher Ryan Yarbrough commented on the phenomenon as he stated, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it like that before. I’ve heard about some things and of all things, it was kind of cool when everyone turned their lights on. It kind of looked like a little concert.”

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After Rays fans discovered the culprit behind the dilemma, the ordeal appeared more ridiculous, as a family of birds stands responsible. After a bird nest fell and came into contact with the city’s electrical equipment, sparks flew, creating an outage that left 12,900 costumers momentarily without power, including those at Tropicana Park. Although mother nature played a much larger role this time around, prior outages at Rays games occur frequently on their own, as an outage during a game against the Yankees led to a longer delay during a May game this season.

Barring any other interference from the animal kingdom, the Rays will continue their series against the Angels this weekend, hopefully with the lights shinning bright this time around.