Beekeeper Matt Hilton plays the hero after ending delay for Dodgers-Diamondbacks game

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 of 28,667 fans 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.

"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.

If he had not arrived when he did, the game would have been postponed and perhaps played as a doubleheader Wednesday, or on a mutual off-day Thursday or later in the season.

Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts openly discussed the alternatives if the delay was going to last much longer. The D-backs had already made the decision to scratch veteran starter Jordan Montgomery since he was completely warmed up and was about to walk from the bullpen onto the field.

“You have to call the beekeeper,’’ Lovullo said, “and he’s going to have to come and smoke the place out.’’

The trouble was finding a beekeeper, particularly one that was close by to the downtown ballpark.

When the D-backs tracked down Hilton, he was watching his 6-year-old-son, Levi, play in a T-ball game, 45 minutes away in Surprise, Ariz.

It hardly was as if anyone had any inkling of looming trouble.

“One of the batboys pointed it out to me,’’ Lovullo said, “and said, 'There’s a beehive forming up there.' It doubled in size from the time I first looked at it. I’m looking up there, and I’m thinking, I wonder if that’s going to present a problem.

“And it did.’’

It wasn’t until after the national anthem, minutes before the managers were about to come onto the field to exchange lineup cards with Adrian Johnson’s umpiring crew, when everything came to an abrupt halt.

“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 Lovullo and Roberts of the issue. There was a safety concern for players and fans of being stung. MLB officials informed the umpiring crew that the game could not start until the bee colony was removed.

The public address announcer informed the fans the game would not start on time, and flashed on the scoreboard: “We ask that you please bee patient.’’

The players from each team stood in front of the dugouts amused at first, and then retreated to the clubhouse, watching the bee festivities on their closed-circuit TV, discussing among themselves whether the game would even be played.

Rock, realizing that time was of the essence, telephoned Hilton, who explained that he was 45 minutes away from the downtown ballpark. Rock then called another company. They were even further away in Buckeye, Arizona, nearly an hour away.

Rock pleaded with Hilton to come as quickly as possible. Hilton apologized to his family, jumped in his truck, and with little traffic in the way, raced to Chase Field where a golf cart awaited him at the entrance.

“It was the longest 45 minutes of my life," Rock said.

Beekeeper throws first pitch

Hilton put on his beekeeper suit, received thunderous cheers, and ascended on a hydraulic scissor lift. He sprayed the beehive, vacuumed the bees into sealed containers, and the bees were gone. He got a standing ovation, and as he descended, pumped his fist into the air his hands up in the air to encourage even louder cheers.

The loudspeakers blared Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Holding Out for a Hero.’’

“I thought I was just going to do my thing and cruise out,’’ Hilton said, “but it was fine.’’

When Hilton came to the ground, Diamondbacks officials asked him to throw out the first pitch, and there he was, still in his beehive suit, his face splashed across TV sets everywhere.

“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 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.’’

And, surely, they’ll all have stories talking about how their beekeeper became a hero, even before Lovullo took Walker aside before his at-bat in the 10 ^th inning, and said, “Hit one to the moon.’’

Lovullo, who was forced to push back Montgomery until Wednesday, reiterated how proud he was of his entire team, using seven different relievers, including Brandon Hughes. Roberts stuck with young starter Landon Knack, and praised him for pitching five innings.

“One of my buddies texted me a screenshot of honeybees,’’ Hughes said, “and how they’re a sign of good luck from ancient times. It was actually a little bit deeper on how they use teamwork and cooperation.

“That was a full team win right there.’’

Yep, with the help of an anonymous beekeeper who suddenly became a household name in the state of Arizona.

“He," Lovullo said of Hilton, “was amazing.’’

“Crazy day,’’ Roberts said, “crazy day."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beekeeper Matt Hilton plays the hero after ending delay for Dodgers-Diamondbacks game