Dodgers game called after sewage pipe bursts on field

March 28 (UPI) — The Los Angeles Dodgers had to shorten their last spring training game Tuesday after a sewage pipe bursts and flooded the field at Dodger Stadium.

The smelly sequence — and result of a water main leak — stopped play in the bottom of the fifth inning. Dodgers infielder Chase Utley hit a single with a liner to center field, putting two men on base. Los Angeles Angels righty Jaime Barria then settled in against pinch hitter Austin Barnes.

Then sewage water began to leak out onto the warning track near the Dodgers’ dugout and into nearby box seats along the foul line.

“Apparently, there was a pipe backup on two different levels of the stadium,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said, according to MLB.com. “We don’t know exactly where the backup was, or what caused it. It had something to do with a main pipe here, as well as main pipe outside the stadium.”

Tickets for seats in that area range from $500 to more than $1,000 for opening day this year at Dodger Stadium.

Stadium grounds crew attempted to sweep the water away and tried using a drying agent for a fix, but the game was called off in the inning and the Dodgers were rewarded with a 4-3 victory. The delay lasted about 30 minutes.

The Dodgers kick off the season on Thursday against the San Francisco Giants in Los Angeles.

“Crappy way to end the spring,” Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling said after Tuesday’s game, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Get it?”