The Kansas City Royals faced a big mess with the first place Cleveland Indians in town for a weekend series.

A pipeburst in the right field bullpen area flooded the warning track and caused a 30-minute delay.

The stadium grounds crew rushed to shut off the valves to that part of the stadium and pushed the standing water down the drains. After diligent work by the grounds crew, the game resumed in the top of the fourth inning with the Royals leading 3-2.

“I’m glad we’ve got (head groundskeeper) Trevor Vance and his grounds crew because they were on it,” said Royals manager Ned Yost who observed the clean-up from the outfield grass.  “That thing (delay) could have been a lot longer than it needed to be.”

Before the delay, Royals starting pitcher Brad Keller heard turned to the bullpen.

“I heard our bullpen coach was whistling,” Keller recalled as the game was held up.  “I was confused.  Why is the bullpen whistling down?   Sure enough, the whole bullpen (staff) was standing up  when I turned around to look.”

With two home runs in the ninth inning the Royals ended the night with a 5-4 victory.

“I was thinking we’re going to be here for awhile,” said Royals first baseman Ryan O’Hearn who hit the game-tying homer in the ninth.  “It was a weird deal, but I’m glad we got to keep going and the delay wasn’t that bad.”