If you attended all of Tuesday’s game between the Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field, the bad news is that you were at the ballpark for upward of five hours.
The good news is that you got to witness a Diamondbacks walk-off win over a division rival — and the making of a local (national?) hero.
Shortly before first pitch, a bee colony formed in the netting behind home plate, a potential hazard for fans and players alike.
After more than an hour, Matt Hilton, a manager at Blue Sky Pest Control, emerged on a golf-cart-like vehicle from right field and was lifted on a scissor lift to the site of the colony. Hilton treated the bees with a non-pesticidal solution and vacuumed them up to be freed off-site, drawing widespread cheers from the crowd.
Walk-off wins are always memorable, but, well, this one was a little different. Here are five quotes that will help us appreciate it.
1. Mike Rock, Diamondbacks Vice President of Ballpark Operations
“I got a call about five minutes before game time from our senior manager of events, and she doesn’t usually call me about that time. I knew something was odd.
“She said, ‘We have bees landing on the net right behind home plate.’ I said, ‘How many?’ She said, ‘Hundreds. No wait, thousands!’ And I knew we had a problem.”
Frankly, it is hard to believe that this was not a premeditated act by the bee colony. They just so happened to show up literal minutes before game time to set up shop at what was basically the best view in the house? Nonsense.
In all seriousness, this was a tricky situation for Rock, both teams’ managers and the league office. Rock said that the game was “very close” to being cancelled because of the expected delay.
Originally scheduled for 6:40 p.m. Arizona time, first pitch ultimately came at 8:35 p.m. It was the latest local start time ever for a Diamondbacks home game at Chase Field (or Bank One Ballpark, as it was previously called).
2. Matt Hilton, Phoenix Office Branch Manager at Blue Sky Pest Control, AKA “The Bee Man”
“I thought I was just gonna do my thing and cruise out, but it was fun … It was a little nerve racking, I’m not gonna lie. It was a lot of pressure to get this game going, but I was happy to come and take care of it.”
If Hilton thought he could escape public attention from his bee displacement act at Chase Field on Tuesday, he thought wrong. Hilton was featured on MLB.com‘s homepage during the game, and Topps announced Wednesday that they signed Hilton to a baseball card deal to help remember the moment.
Perhaps the best part of Hilton’s story was that, in order to save this baseball game, he had to leave another one. Hilton told reporters that he was at his six-year-old son’s tee-ball game in Surprise when he got the call. Fortunately, traffic wasn’t too bad.
While Hilton said that he was nervous, he did soak up some of the attention.
“When we came out to the field and they had the little buggy cruising out, I kinda ate it up a little bit,” he said. “Had my little moment. It was a fun time.”
Of course, Hilton’s work was not yet done.
3. Christian Walker, Diamondbacks first baseman, on if he has had any past run-ins with bees
“No, my wife and I bought a farm recently, though, and beekeeping is on the list of things to figure out. I’ve honestly been watching a ton of YouTube videos on it.”
This is uncanny. Christian Walker just so happened to have done recent research on beekeeping?
When asked if he could have taken care of the bees himself, Walker was noncommittal. Granted, he would have needed to borrow a bee suit. Not sure if they keep those on hand around the ballpark.
4. Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks manager, on what he told Walker before his walk-off home run
“It was one of those fun baseball moments. I told him to hit one to the f’ing moon.”
The Diamondbacks have struggled offensively in extra innings at times this year, but Lovullo did not want Walker to worry about trying to advance the runner.
He just wanted him to go up and, in Lovullo’s words, “hit one to the f’ing moon.” Walker did just that three pitches later.
5. Brandon Hughes, Tuesday’s Diamondbacks starting pitcher
“One of my buddies texted me a Google screenshot of honeybees and how they’re a sign of good luck from ancient times, and it was actually a little bit deeper of how they use teamwork and cooperation. I mean, that was a full team win right there.”
You heard it here first: After a two-hour delay caused by a swarm of bees, the Diamondbacks channeled their inner bee in Tuesday’s win over the Dodgers. What a game it was.
