A beekeeper in Arizona saved the day on Tuesday night when a bee swarm developing behind the netting on home plate delayed the game for nearly two hours.
The Diamondbacks were set to play against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Chase Field when a swarm of bees was discovered to be developing behind home plate.
Who ya gonna call?
Beekeeper Matt Hilton.
Honeyball 🐝 pic.twitter.com/nWazk3zJTO
— MLB (@MLB) May 1, 2024
“[The senior manager of events] said we have bees landing on the net right behind home plate. I said, ‘How many?’ And she said, hundreds — no way, thousands. And I knew we had a problem,” said Diamondbacks vice president of baseball operations Mike Rock.
The team immediately called Hilton, a branch manager for Blue Sky Pest Control’s Phoenix office. At the time, he had been attending his son’s T-ball game.
Beekeeper Matt Hilton removes a colony of bees that formed on the net behind home plate during a delay to the MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on April 30, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“Minor leagues to the big leagues now. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
After he had cleared the swarm, Hilton was given the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
“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 said. “It was a little nerve-racking, I’m not going to lie — a lot of pressure to get this game going.”
Beekeeper Matt Hilton throws out the ceremonial first pitch during a delay to the MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on April 30, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona. Tonight’s game has been delayed due to a bee colony that accumulated on the net behind home plate. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3, per Fox News.
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