Technology has become heavily relied upon for the Los Angeles Dodgers and essentially all of Major League Baseball, but this year that has presented a bit of a new challenge. Across the sport have been multiple drone delays as games are played in empty ballparks.
That moment arrived at Dodger Stadium in the second inning of the series opener between the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies. Umpires quickly took notice of the drone flying overhead and cleared players off the field for several minutes.
The umpiring crew and Dodger Stadium security gathered in front of the Dodgers’ dugout as they spoke with manager Dave Roberts and watched the drone’s flight path.
“It was our first drone delay,” Roberts said after his club’s comeback win. “Obviously we’re not a big fan of it. I think the umpires did a great job keeping us from harms way, getting us off the field, and I’m just happy it wasn’t too long of a delay.”
The incident occurred early into an interview Kiké Hernandez was doing with Alanna Rizzo on SportsNet LA. Hernandez joked Cincinnati Reds starter and drone aficionado Trevor Bauer was “doing some scouting.”
Kiké being Kiké. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/cz4okXGEeb
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) September 5, 2020
For AJ Pollock, it was not his first experience with a drone. “I remember in Spring Training, we played a game in Hermosillo and there was a pretty significant sized drone,” Pollock said. “I don’t know if we even stopped the game there. I think we just let that happen. It seems like a lot of games are getting stopped by drones now.”
It was, however, a first for rookie Dustin May. “It was crazy how fast it happened. A drone just popped up and everybody ran off the field,” he said.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then everybody was like, ‘There’s a drone.’ I didn’t know that’s how we handled that situation. It was different and a first, for sure.”
Not the most unique delay at Dodger Stadium
While the drone delay was a first for the Dodgers, it still pales in comparison to an exhibition Freeway Series game in March 2018 that was stopped — and ultimately called off — because of a sewage leakage down the third-base line.
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