Snake in the outfield grass causes wild delay at minor league game

Mark Townsend
·Yahoo Sports Contributor

Have you ever had to encounter one of your biggest fears at the least convenient moment? That could have been the case for any number of people attending Friday night’s Double-A game between the hometown San Antonio Missions (Padres affiliate) and the visiting Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers).

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In the top of the eighth inning, a snake literally slithered its way into the outfield grass as play was going on. Once the snake was spotted, the action at Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium was stopped and then delayed for several minutes while members of the grounds crew attempted to contain it and remove it.

As you’ll see in the video below, that was no easy task. But hats off to the six crew members who eventually got the job done.

Crazy.

Perhaps the best part of the video is the five crew members who took off right away and left that one guy behind to carry the bucket containing the snake.

According to Missions center fielder Michael Gettys, it was the fans who first spotted the sneaky snake and got his attention.

“I heard someone from the stands yell, ‘There’s a snake in center field!’ but I thought they were just missing around.” Gettys told MiLB.com. “I think a couple pitches went by and then after the out, I just kind of looked over to my right … and I just saw it. That was it.”

The team says snakes have been known to hang around the ballpark, but this is the first time one actually ventured on to the field.

According to MiLB.com, it’s the second straight night an uninvited guest made its way on to the field in San Antonio. In the eighth inning on Thursday, a cat got loose on the field and caused a delay. We’re guessing that was a lot less stressful.

It’s also the second straight season where there’s been a snake delay at a minor league baseball game. The same thing happened at a Triple A meeting between the Reno Aces and Sacramento River Cats last May.

The Aces, of course, are the Triple A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Nothing against snakes or anything, but for the sake of players and fans here’s hoping there are more cats and squirrels getting loose on the field than snakes in the future.

(San Antonio Missions)
(San Antonio Missions)

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Yahoo Sports Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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