The Texas Rangers wrapped up a weird win at 2:44 a.m. Tuesday, rallying after a rain delay of more than 3 1/2 hours in the ninth inning to beat the New York Yankees 9-6 with maybe 100 fans left in the stands.
Yankee Stadium was so deserted that shouts from Texas players cheering in the dugout for Adrian Beltre's go-ahead, two-run single could easily be heard bouncing around the ballpark.
Texas trailed 6-5 when Kirby Yates replaced closer Aroldis Chapman after the delay with a runner on first and no outs. Yates (2-1) hit three batters, and Beltre and Elvis Andrus each hit a two-run single.
By then, the cleaning crews had already started their work in the upper decks.
Rain-themed songs wafted over the sound system while showers fell during the break of 3 hours, 35 minutes. A half-dozen policemen without slickers or umbrellas got soaked while ringing the field, ensuring nobody tried to slide on the tarp - no one did.
This was nowhere near the longest rain delay at this stadium. Two months after it opened in 2009, the start of a game against Washington was delayed 5 1/2 hours.
There is no official record of the longest rain delay in major league history.
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The start of a pennant-race game in 1999 between Cincinnati and the Brewers at Milwaukee was held up 5 hours, 47 minutes. In 2013, a Royals-Cardinals game in St. Louis was delayed 4 hours, 32 minutes, in the ninth inning.
Chapman took over to begin the ninth and, pitching in steady showers on a slippery mound, issued a leadoff walk to Robinson Chirinos. When the count went to 3-1 on Shin-Soo Choo, New York manager Joe Girardi emerged from the dugout to talk with the umpires.
After a brief discussion with the other umps, crew chief Paul Nauert signaled for the tarp at 10:40 p.m. The game resumed at 2:15 a.m.
Tony Barnette (5-2) got the win and Sam Dyson earned his 16th save as Texas won its third in a row.
It was the latest ending at the new Yankee Stadium. A 19-inning game against Boston in 2015 briefly delayed by a power outage ended at 2:13 a.m.
Ian Desmond and Rougned Odor homered for Texas, which owns the best record in the AL. Mark Teixeira homered for the second straight day and got three hits for the Yankees.
The start of the game was delayed 21 minutes because rain was in the area, but not a drop fell at the stadium until the middle innings.
The grounds crew worked on the field a couple of times in the late innings. They tried before the top of the ninth to keep a messy diamond in playable shape, drawing a cheer from the crowd.
Carlos Beltran singled three times as the designated hitter while Alex Rodriguez sat for the second straight day. With the Yankees hovering around .500, team management said the slumping A-Rod could be sitting more often.
"I want to be a contender, not a pretender," general manager Brian Cashman said.
