Reds grounds crew member gets gobbled up by ‘tarp monster’ during weather delay

One member of the Cincinnati Reds’ grounds crew was not as fast as he needed to be during Monday night’s weather delay at Great American Ballpark.

Rain began to fall in the eighth inning of a 2-2 tie between the San Francisco Giants and the Reds, and the grounds crew was instructed to bring out the tarp. 

A grounds crew member slipped and was swallowed by the massive tarp as the rest of the crew kept pulling it over the infield dirt.

Great American Ballpark has a history with so-called “tarp monsters.” Two years ago, a tarp wreaked havoc when a grounds crew member briefly disappeared at the onset of a weather delay in Cincinnati.

“Did we speak too soon?” a Bally Sports broadcaster asked. 

“Mayday! He got eaten by the tarp … they’re not even stopping, no pause,” another broadcaster hilariously noted.

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Monday night’s game was the first of a four game Reds-Giants series. After an almost two-hour delay, the game was suspended and was rescheduled to resume Tuesday.

The grounds crew member ultimately escaped the tarp’s clutches. 

“Oh my goodness, and we finally got that guy out too … finally,” a member of the broadcasting crew noted.

“He’s all right. He’s a little dirty,” another broadcaster said.

The Reds grounds crew also needed some additional assistance securing the tarp to the ground amid some treacherous winds.

Reds president of ballpark operations Sean Brown tried his best to lend the grounds crew a hand by lying on the field and hanging on to the tarp for dear life.

“And now, oh, the wind is catching the tarp,” the play-by-play announcer said during the broadcast. 

“They don’t have it staked down yet. One of the grounds crew members nearly got lifted up into the air. He just did a ‘stop, drop and roll’ to try to stake that to the ground with his body.”

The Giants had runners on second and third with one out and third baseman J.D. Davis due up to the plate before the tarp was brought out. 

The Reds and Giants are scheduled to play at 7:10 p.m. ET Tuesday after the resumed game wraps up.

Anthony DeSclafani gets the start for San Francisco against the Reds’ Luke Weaver for the second game of the day.