Chase Field was abuzz in Phoenix on Tuesday night for the big Los Angeles Dodgers-Arizona Diamondbacks game — but not in a good way.
A colony of bees decided to camp out atop backstop netting, delaying first pitch by nearly two hours before beekeeper Matt Hilton came to the rescue.
After fans were cleared out from high-priced seats behind home plate, the white-clad Hilton was hoisted up to the bees, where he used a spray to stun the pests before sucking them up with a vacuum, to the cheers of fans.
The Diamondbacks even had Hilton stick around to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game finally started at 8:35 p.m. MT. It had been scheduled for 6:40 p.m., amounting to a delay of an hour and 55 minutes.
It turned out to be an even later night than expected as the Diamondbacks, the defending National League champions, needed 10 innings to beat this year's favorites to win it all, 4-3.
A batboy first drew Arizona manager Torey Lovullo's attention to the hive shortly before the scheduled first pitch.
"It doubled in size from the first time I looked at it," Lovullo told reporters after the game.
"I was looking up there and thinking, 'I wonder if that's going to present a problem.' And it did."
Lovullo thanked MLB for delaying the game for the safety of players, fans and everyone else inside Chase Field.
"MLB had their hands on it," he said. "So I can see why they made that decision to slow it down and make sure that we were safe."
