There was a lot of buzz surrounding last night’s Dodgers-Diamondbacks game, but one part of the Diamondbacks’ stadium was especially buzzing and caused the game to be delayed.
The part of Chase Field in question was the top of the protective netting behind home plate, where a large bee colony appeared before the first pitch on Tuesday night, leading to the game being delayed from 6:45 p.m. to 8:35 p.m.
The Diamondbacks posted an update to social media advising fans of the delay due to the bees, saying that the game would resume “promptly” following the successful removal of the beehive, which was made up of thousands of bees. Chase Field has a retractable roof, which was open on Tuesday evening, and gave the bees “free reign,” the Associated Press reported.
It wasn’t all bad.
Diamondbacks fans gained a new hero in the ordeal, Matt Hilton, the beekeeper dispatched to remove the swarm of bees. He has become a different kind of Diamondbacks legend.
Hilton was at his son’s final T-ball game of the season when he got the call from officials requesting his aid; he immediately drove 45 minutes to downtown Phoenix to get to the stadium, arriving about 70 minutes after the scheduled first pitch.
The crowd began to cheer once the grounds crew brought out a lift for Hilton, who donned his beekeeper suit and began sucking the bees up with a vacuum as Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” played over the stadium’s loudspeakers.
After completing the mission, Hilton, who received “MVP” chants from fans for his efforts, was further rewarded when the Diamondbacks let him throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
“I thought I was just going to do my thing and cruise out, but it was fun because of the thousands of people cheering for you,” he told AP. “It was a little nerve-wracking – I’m not going to lie – a lot of pressure to get this game going.”
He even got a shoutout from the MLB’s official Twitter account, which called him “pure electricity.”
The Diamondbacks, who switched starting pitchers due to the delay, eventually beat the Dodgers 4-3 in 10 innings.