Wednesday, October 16, 2013
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Power went out during Game 3 of ALCS in Detroit

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[October 16, 2013]  DETROIT (AP) -- A power outage interrupted Game 3 of the American League championship series for 17 minutes.

The lights high atop Comerica Park went out and the videoboards were dark between the top and bottom of the second inning, delaying the game between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers.

"It appears there was a cable failure in the vicinity of the ballpark that compromised the feed to the stadium," DTE Energy Co. spokeswoman Vanessa Waters said. "That caused the equipment to trip. Crews are investigating the cause of the cable failure and which equipment was affected by the failure."

The Tigers were coming up to bat for a second time with two hits after Justin Verlander held Boston without a hit for the second straight inning when the scoreless game was stopped.

Ten minutes into the stoppage, fans had not been informed how long the game would be delayed. Five minutes later, the Red Sox took their positions in the field.

"John Lackey was given as much time as he needed to warm up prior to the restart of the game," MLB senior vice president Joe Garagiola Jr. said in a statement.

Cable failures -- combined with high temperatures -- last month forced the closure of the Detroit Institute of Arts and cancellation of classes at Wayne State University's main campus in the city's Midtown. City Hall, the McNamara Federal Building and several court buildings also were closed. And, some traffic lights downtown were out.

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Detroit's electrical grid is plagued by aging power transmission lines which intermittently fail under the stress of high demand and heat. The city's poor fiscal condition has delayed wholesale updates and repairs. Power downtown was lost for more than a day beginning June 9, 2011. A year earlier, electricity also was lost to some buildings in the city's downtown and central business district.

The city's system eventually will be turned over to DTE Energy, which provides power to homes and private businesses in Detroit. But that process is going to be very deliberate and take several years, the utility said in September.

Detroit became the largest U.S. city to seek bankruptcy on July 18 when state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr filed a petition in federal court.

A partial power outage in New Orleans during this year's Super Bowl that stopped the game for 34 minutes occurred because a relay device with a design defect malfunctioned.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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