NEW YORK - The Texas Rangers wrapped up a weird win at 2:44 a.m. Tuesday, rallying after a rain delay of nearly four 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.
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.
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.
