A swarm of bees created quite a baseball buzzkill in the desert.
The start of Tuesday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks was delayed by nearly 90 minutes after a bee colony swarmed the top of the protective netting directly behind home plate.
A grounds crew member wheeled out a scissor lift after about 20 minutes, then waited for a beekeeper to arrive as fans in the sections behind home plate were cleared out for safety. Matt Hilton, the beekeeper, arrived about 70 minutes after the scheduled first pitch and pumped up the already cheering crowd as he rode in on a cart from right field. The beekeeper stunned the bees with spray and started sucking them up with a shop vac, hitting the last few stranglers with more spray before heading down.
The crowd cheered again and the beekeeper pumped his fist as he lowered back onto the field. The players were given 30 minutes to loosen back up before the delayed first pitch.
As baseball fans both in attendance and at home waited for action to get underway, they couldn’t help but have some fun with the unusual delay. Here are some of the best reactions as a bee swarm took over Chase Field.
— With files from the Associated Press.