The Yankees groundskeepers got more than they bargained for during a rain delay on Wednesday night. With one out in the bottom of the fifth inning during a game against the Texas Rangers, the skies opened with such sudden and driving rain that the crew was unable to get the tarp on the field in their usual speedy fashion.
Rain was accumulating on the tarp so quickly that it became too heavy for the team to pull across the diamond. Later on, a crew member even got caught underneath it. The stop-and-go nature of the effort thus allowed the Yankee Stadium infield dirt to take a massive hit.
“I’ve never seen it when it rained so hard and so fast that it weighed down the tarp and then, with the mud on the infield, it wouldn’t slide,” said crew chief Dale Scott, per The New York Times. “That dual effect is what caused the issues. They tried like heck. Obviously, it just happened.”
Even after a rain delay that lasted an hour and forty-nine minutes, the field remained too soaked for safe play. After a conference with both managers, the umpiring crew made the decision to call the game in favor of the Yanks, 2-1.
Here's another video taken from the stands.