Players bolt after thunder at Rangers game
ARLINGTON, Texas — First came the bolt, then came the boltin'.
A thunderclap from an extremely close lightning strike sent players and umpires scrambling off the field during the fourth inning of Sunday's game between the Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins.
Most of the players didn't wait for umpires to officially stop the game. The simultaneous flash and loud bang was good enough for them to run for cover.
"That's the loudest noise I've ever heard," Twins outfielder Denard Span tweeted. "I thought Jesus was comin!"
Added Rangers manager Ron Washington: "I thought I was dead."
Rangers catcher Mike Napoli immediately sprinted to the dugout after the thunderbolt, which many witnesses likened to a bomb going off.
"It just kind of freaked me out, so I just started running to the dugout," Napoli said. "It was just so quick and you see the flash and the bang, I just started running for some odd reason."
Napoli, in full catcher's gear, was easily the first to reach the dugout.
"I've seen him move that fast before," teammate Ian Kinsler said, "but not very often."
Twins outfielder Josh Willingham, on first base at the time, dropped to the ground while first base coach Jerry White appeared to duck behind first base umpire Jeff Kellogg.
"That was the loudest thunder I've ever heard in my life," Rangers first baseman Michael Young said. "Willingham hit the deck. I turned around and he was doing a dirt angel in the floor. Jerry White, their first-base coach, was going bananas. He hid behind the umpire."
Washington said the Rangers' dugout ribbed White about his reaction.
"Yes we did," Washington chuckled. "He ran behind the umpire, then he ran toward our dugout. He didn't know where he was."
Rangers pitcher Roy Oswalt was about to begin his windup when the thunderclap hit. Oswalt cringed at the noise, turned to walk off the mound and then kept going to the dugout.
Batter Ryan Doumit ducked, then took off in the opposite direction toward his own dugout.
"I've never seen the tarp pulled with no rain - It was like a lightning delay," Kinsler said. "It was weird. I don't think I've ever been a part of a lightning strike that close."
Afterward, the players could be seen chuckling about their reactions.
"We watched the video probably about 40 times, just watching everybody on the field," Napoli said. "And every time we watched it we cracked up laughing."
The players could laugh because no one got hurt, on the field or in the stands. But there were still a few tense moments.
"My heart stopped when I heard the thunder at the stadium," Twins outfielder Ben Revere tweeted during the 46-minute weather delay. "Glad no [one] heard me scream like a little girl too!!! Lol"
Rangers officials said the bolt hit just beyond the north side of the stadium, which in relation to the field is just to the third base side of home plate. No damage or injuries were reported.
An inning earlier, a distant lightning bolt flashed beyond the centerfield wall as storm cells began to move near the stadium. Fans sitting in the upper deck were invited over the public address system to move to the lower level as a precaution.
Although the wind had picked up inside the ballpark for a couple of innings, the big thunderclap came with virtually no warning.
A brief rainstorm followed the lightning bolt. When play resumed at 7:55 p.m. Texas time, longtime Rangers Ballpark public address announcer Chuck Morgan called it the loudest thunderclap in stadium history.
"That was very, very loud," Young said. "I've never heard anything that loud in my life, and I've had two infant babies."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire