Fans pack Sutter Health Park during an exhibition game between the San Francisco Giants and the Sacramento River Cats on March 23, 2025, in West Sacramento.
JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS
Sacramento Bee file
It’s a bit unclear whether River Cats — the fan-chosen name of Sacramento’s resident Triple-A team — are aggressive.
Why? Well, because it’s unclear what exactly a River Cat is, with the name largely drawing on the nearby Sacramento River for inspiration.
Perhaps the answer was revealed Saturday, ahead of a matchup between the Sacramento River Cats and the visiting Oklahoma City Comets — the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Before the game, the River Cats mascot Dinger while riding a motorized scooter at a high speed collided with Comets outfielder Alek Thomas, who was running out of the dugout, as shown in a video posted to Reddit and then reposted across various social media platforms Tuesday.
The original Reddit thread had more than 500 upvotes and 30 comments within two hours of posting, while various reposts from accounts like Jomboy Media accrued hundreds of thousands of views.
A majority of commenters across social media platforms defended Dinger, however, saying that Thomas failed to use proper caution when running out of the dugout, causing the collision.
“Look both ways before you cross the street,” one commenter wrote on Reddit.
Thomas was able to get up a few seconds after the collision, escaping serious harm, and played the full game against the River Cats, going 0-for-4.
Dinger rode his scooter while wearing a Santa hat and red vest as the River Cats celebrated a “Christmas in July” promotion for Saturday’s game.
To add another layer of intrigue, the River Cats are an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, with whom the Dodgers have a long, bitter rivalry.
The six-game series ended Sunday, with the River Cats winning five of six.
This story was originally published July 28, 2026 at 5:46 PM.
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Sean Campbell is a 2025 and 2026 summer reporting intern covering sports and news at The Sacramento Bee. Campbell is studying journalism at USC and serves as a news editor at the student-run Daily Trojan. He previously covered sports for the Davis Enterprise.