Credit: X
On Tuesday, April 30, the Arizona Diamondbacks rewarded the beekeeper Matt Hilton with a ceremonial first pitch for taking care of the swarm of bees at the Chase Field. The moment happened after he ended a one-hour, 55-minute delay in the MLB game for the Arizona Diamondbacks against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to the bee colony formed on top of the protective netting above home plate.
Matt Hilton, the Branch Manager of the Blue Sky Pest Control’s Phoenix office, arrived at the Chase Field about an hour after the scheduled first pitch. After riding on a cart from the right field, he waved to the 28,667 strong with the public address speakers blaring, “I need a hero.”
The beekeeper proceeded to stun the bees with spray before sucking them up with a shop vac. Moments later, he hit the last few stranglers with more spray to complete his day’s work.
The people at Chase Field were pretty hyped up: Matt Hilton
The MLB took to their official X account to share the short clip of Arizona Diamondbacks rewarding Matt Hilton, who was in the beekeeper suit, with the ceremonial first pitch before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Diamondbacks registered a 4-3 win on the night against the Dodgers after 10 innings.
While talking to the Los Angeles Times, Matt Hilton said, “I thought I was here to just take care of a bee problem, but people were pretty hyped up. Pretty cool.” Meanwhile, the report from CBS Sports stated the bees were not killed, but treated with a non-pesticidal solution, and they will be released off-site.
Here is the clip of Arizona Diamondbacks rewarding beekeeper Matt Hilton with a ceremonial first pitch:
