Sinkhole Cancels Batting Practice At Rangers Ballpark
ARLINGTON (AP) - There was a sinking feeling behind the pitcher's mound at Rangers Ballpark.
A busted pipe under the infield at Rangers Ballpark created a sinkhole right behind the mound. On-field batting practice Tuesday for both the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians was canceled as the grounds crew worked to fix the problem.
Rangers officials expected the problem to be corrected in order for the game to be played.
Workers had to dig a hole more than 3 feet deep to try to fix the pipe under the field that is used to water the infield. One of the workers could only been seen from the waist up after getting down into the hole.
Texas manager Ron Washington walked out to look at the problem about 90 minutes before the scheduled game time. A few minutes later, one of the workers was using a hose hooked to that area to water some of the infield grass, but it was unclear if the game would be able to start on time.
About three hours before the game, as usual before a home game, Rangers players went on the field for stretching and batting practice. But after stretching in the outfield as normal, they went back inside to take their pregame swings in an indoor cage.
Two weeks ago, a game between Arizona and Texas at Rangers Ballpark was postponed because of unplayable field conditions.
The infield that night was soaked during a severe thunderstorm about an hour before that scheduled start while the grounds crew struggled to get the tarp on the field.
Though the rain stopped shortly after that and more than an hour of work was put into preparing the field, that game was postponed after officials from both teams determined the dirt base paths were too soft to play the game safely.
Arizona and Texas played the next afternoon, after the grounds crew worked into the wee hours of the night.
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