PHOENIX — It could have been the first standing ovation for a beekeeper in history.
Surely, there never has been a beekeeper bask in the limelight as he waved to the crowd as the public address speakers blared, “I need a hero.”
And, after a one-hour, 55-minute delay on Tuesday night because of a bee colony that formed on top of the protective netting above home plate, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks played a baseball game that lasted 10 innings.
Diamondbacks first baseman Christian Walker, who has become an avid student of bees after purchasing a farm, hit the first walk-off of his career with a two-run homer of Arizona’s 4-3 victory at Chase Field.
“Beekeeping is on the list of things to figure out,” said Walker, who homered twice in the game, “so I’ve honestly been watching a ton of YouTube videos on it.
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“Obviously, it was cool to watch, watch him do it, and get those bees out of there.”
While Walker will go down in the box score as the game’s hero, the teams will tell the real hero was the beekeeper, Matt Hilton, branch manager of the Blue Sky Pest Control office in Phoenix, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
The entire pregame scene was surreal with the national anthem already played, the players getting ready to play, and a bee colony forming quicker than Diamondbacks starter Jordan Montgomery’s warmup pitches.
“I got a call about five minutes before game time from our senior manager of events,” said Mike Rock, D-backs vice president of baseball operations. “She usually doesn’t call me at that time, I knew something was odd. She said, ‘We have bees landing on the net, right above home plate.'”
Rock asked, “How many?”
Kat McDonald, the senior manager, said: “Hundreds. No, wait, thousands.”
Rock: “I knew we had a problem.”
Rock immediately alerted the umpire crew, who informed D-backs manager Torey Lovullo and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of the issue. There was a serious concern for safety, for fear of players and fans being stung, with MLB officials saying the game could not start until the bee colony was removed.
The public address announcer asked fans to “please bee patient,” and then started playing the Beatles’ “Let It Be” to the delight of the crowd.
The players from each team stood in front of the dugouts amused at first, and then retreated to the clubhouse, wondering if the game would even be played.
The problem is that no one was immediately available.
Rock called Hilton, who has worked for the company for 15 years, but he was at his 6-year-old son’s T-ball game in Surprise, Arizona, which is 45 minutes away.
Rock then called the competitor’s company. They were even further away in Buckeye, Arizona.
Rock pleaded with Hilton to come as quickly as possible. Hilton apologized to his family, jumped in his truck, and raced to Chase Field where a golf cart awaited him.
“It was the longest 45 minutes of my life,” Rock said.
Hilton put on his beekeeper suit, rose to the top of the net using a hydraulic scissor lift, vacuumed the colony, and got a rousing standing ovation when it was complete, throwing his hands up in the air to encourage even more cheers.
“I thought I was just going to do my thing and cruise out,” Hilton said, “but it was fine.’’
Before he knew it, he was being asked to throw out the first pitch, and was suddenly a hero, with his face splashed across the TV sets and the scoreboard.
“It was a little nerve-racking, I’m not going to lie,” Hilton said. “A lot of pressure to get this game going, you know, but I was happy to come and take care of it.”
The Dodgers and Diamondbacks play their final game of the series on Wednesday, and with wind gusts expected, it wouldn’t surprise a soul if they decide to play this one with the roof closed.
“I think we’ll probably put the scissor lift up there just to make sure,” Rock said. “We’ll ask Blue Sky what’s the best thing to do to make sure they don’t come back to the same spot. They’re here every day at 6 a.m., so we’ll have some of their top people here in the morning.”
The game finally started at 11:35 p.m. ET. The Diamondbacks scratched Montgomery, who had already warmed up, and he was replaced by left-handed reliever Brandon Hughes, who was making his first career start.
But, at least there was a baseball game, with Matt Hilton becoming the most famous beekeeper in America.
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