The start of Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks was delayed nearly two hours after a colony of bees invaded the top of the protective netting directly behind home plate.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts met with the umpires shortly after the delay began and the public address announcer informed the crowd of the delay.
The D-Backs said the game was about to start “immediately following successful removal of the hive by a professional beekeeper.”
A member of the grounds crew brought out a scissor lift after about 20 minutes, then waited for a beekeeper to arrive while fans in sections behind home plate were evacuated for safety.
Matt Hilton, manager of Blue Sky Pest Control’s Phoenix branch, arrived about 70 minutes after the scheduled first pitch and pumped up the already enthusiastic crowd as he arrived on a cart from right field. Hilton – which had been at his son’s tee-ball game when he received the emergency call, he dressed and then stood up towards the swarm, prompting more cheers.
Matt York/AP
With another quick wave to pump up the crowd, he stunned the bees with a spray and began vacuuming them up with a shop vacuum while Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” blared through the speakers.
Hilton hit the final chokes with more spray before running back down the court, raising his fist as the crowd cheered again.
The delay lasted nearly 90 minutes and the players had 30 minutes to relax before the first pitch was thrown. The Diamondbacks changed starting pitchers after the delay, from Jordan Montgomery to Brandon Hughes.
The first pitch was scheduled for 6:40 p.m. local time, and the game finally began at 8:35 p.m.
Hilton got an added bonus when he made a call to the ballpark: The Diamondbacks had him throw out the first pitch.
Of course, he wore his beekeeper suit for the draw.
“I thought I was just there to take care of a bee problem, but people were pretty excited,” Hilton told the Los Angeles Times. “Pretty cool.”
The bees were not killed, according to CBS Sports. They have been treated with a non-pesticide solution and will be released off-site.
The swarms of bees are common in the spring in Arizona and have caused numerous delays to spring practices over the years. A the swarm of bees also caused a long delay during a match between Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, last month.
Chase Field has a retractable roof, but it was open for Tuesday’s game.
Grub5
