ARLINGTON – A bank of lights atop Rangers Ballpark in Arlington along the first-base line malfunctioned and eventually forced umpires to stop play Saturday's game between the Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers.

When play resumed 101 minutes later, the game had changed dramatically. Neither starting pitcher could continue after each had tossed five terrific innings, and the game turned into a game of "may the best bullpen win."

Advantage Dodgers, who used a two-out, two-run homer by Matt Kemp off newcomer Jason Grilli in the seventh inning to edge the Rangers, 3-1.

While the loss of right-hander Scott Feldman because of the delay was frustrating, manager Ron Washington said the stoppage couldn't have been avoided.

Crew chief Charlie Reliford halted play at 8:17 p.m., citing safety concerns, until a broken breaker could be replaced. The lights flickered on at 9:45 p.m., and play resumed 13 minutes later.

"The outfielders weren't picking the ball up off the bat, and the players were complaining about not seeing the ball coming out of the pitcher's hand," Washington said. "As it got darker, [Reliford] assessed it, and he did a great job."

Most of the 37,262 in attendance waited for the game to resume. Any fan holding a ticket stub can exchange it for a ticket to the July 5 game against Tampa Bay, subject to availability.

They were treated to two games in one Saturday – a five-inning pitchers' duel between Feldman and Randy Wolf and a four-inning battle of the bullpens.

The homer off Grilli (0-1) broke a 1-1 tie after each team scored coming out of the delay. Juan Pierre led off the sixth with a single against Eddie Guardado and was at third with no outs after stealing second and advancing 90 more feet on the second of two throwing errors by Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Rafael Furcal brought Pierre in on a groundout, snapping the Rangers' scoreless innings streak at 24, but Andruw Jones homered in the bottom of the inning to tie the score.

The Rangers, though, didn't score again against three Dodgers relievers. Kemp's homer scored Mark Loretta, who drew a walk after a full-count pitch from Grilli just missed the strike zone.

"It's frustrating that you lose your starting pitcher," Washington said. "But I still felt pretty comfortable going back out there in the sixth with Eddie and Grilli coming in."

Feldman and Wolf were cruising before the game was stopped. They had each pitched five scoreless innings, taking a swift 70 minutes as both teams had combined for only five hits.

The Rangers never mounted a rally against Wolf, who never allowed more than one runner on base per inning.