Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they wear bee suits.
That was the case Tuesday night in Phoenix, Arizona when the game between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks was delayed due to “the presence of a beehive in the netting directly behind home plate.”
The Diamondbacks called out a local beekeeper to safely and humanely remove the bees, which had formed a colony at the top of the netting.
That beekeeper was Matt Hilton from Blue Sky Pest Control, who said he was at his son’s tee ball game when he got the call from the team. Hilton thought he was just there to take care of a bee problem.
However, Hilton was the star of the show early Monday night. When the team brought onto the field in a cart, he received a standing ovation from the crowd. Later, the stadium’s PA system began to play Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” when Hilton stepped onto a scissor lift that raised him up to the hive, MLB.com reports.
The bee delay lasted just under two hours, with the game starting at 8:35 p.m. local time.
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But not before the Diamondbacks brought Hilton out to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
“I wasn’t (expecting that),” Hilton said, via MLB.com. “I thought I was just going to do my thing and cruise out. But it was fun.”
The Diamondbacks went on to beat the Dodgers, 4-3, in extra innings. L.A. took the lead in the top of the 10th before Christian Walker hit a two-run walk-off home run.
