Every time I see a piano I try to jump on there and play some songs I remember. – Roberto Lopez
A flock of 12,607 fans came out to Smith's Ballpark Saturday and witnessed a 7-4 Salt Lake loss to the hands of Nashville, as well as some postgame fireworks. Though the Bees are renowned around the valley for providing a superb fireworks display, the best show of the night may have occurred before the game.
The Bees welcomed the Tavernacle's dueling pianos to play during Saturday's contest, and after pregame batting practice, Salt Lake infielder Roberto Lopez took advantage of the temporary instruments.
Lopez took to the keys and played renditions of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" to the delight of teammates, media members and the few fans that had already arrived.
"They had (the pianos) here last year and I hopped on there," Lopez said. "Everyone was kind of encouraging me and telling me I should play."
He was more than happy to accommodate the requests of his teammates again Saturday afternoon, drawing rave reviews from all listening.
Lopez was 4 years old when he first started playing the piano. As a young child he enjoyed bashing the keys enough on a small piano his sister had to actually learn the instrument.
"I was just a little kid, we had a little piano and I just kind of messed around on it," Lopez said. "Then all of a sudden I got into it."
As a professional baseball player, Lopez doesn't find much time to play the piano, so he takes every chance he gets to bang out some of his favorite tunes.
"Every time I see a piano I try to jump on there and play some songs I remember," he said.
Lopez was debating jumping back on postgame and playing as a prelude to the fireworks show, but he had a disclaimer — the Bees had to win. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as Salt Lake fell and took its third straight loss.
After the game, Bees manager Keith Johnson spoke positively of his team's fight and performance. In short, he's following Journey's tune: "Don't Stop Believing."
Game notes: With his fourth-inning home run, Brennan Boesch has six home runs in his last six games. Longtime Bee Efren Navarro was called up to the Angels and started at first for Los Angeles Saturday. Salt Lake only had 10 position players available Saturday. Matt Long and Taylor Lindsey, two regular Salt Lake players, are with rookie league Orem for rehab assignments. At the time of this writing, Long was 2-for-2 with a triple and two walks, while Lindsey was 1-for-4.