Power outage hits downtown Minneapolis prior to Twins' home opener

MINNEAPOLIS -- A downtown Minneapolis power outage briefly delayed the Twins’ home opener on Friday.

At approximately 1:51 p.m. CT, lights at Target Field and elsewhere downtown went out, roughly 80 minutes before the scheduled 3:10 first pitch for the Twins and Rays. According to Xcel Energy, the outage affected about 1,500 customers. Power came back on at Target Field at 2:49 p.m. CT.

After a 57-minute delay, the first pitch was thrown at 4:07 p.m. CT. The Twins extended the usual Friday pregame happy hour (including $2 select beers and food items) to last through the second inning.

“We have fully restored power to Target Field following a 2 p.m. outage that affected the stadium and surrounding homes and businesses," Rob Clark from Xcel Energy said. "This outage was caused by an Xcel Energy equipment failure along the main power line that serves the stadium. Our crews responded quickly and were able to restore power at approximately 2:55 p.m.

"We apologize to the Minnesota Twins, the Tampa Bay Rays and to Twins fans for impacting today’s game. We are pleased that power was restored quickly and safely, and we will continue to work to ensure we meet everyone’s expectations for reliable power. Go Twins!”