On the same night Mauricio Dubon made an immediate impact in his Giants debut, his former teammates in Triple-A clinched a division title.
The Sacramento River Cats, San Francisco's top minor league affiliate, won the Pacific Coast League's Pacific Northern Division crown Thursday night on the back of a 10-2 win over the Reno Aces. It's the River Cats' first division win since becoming a Giants affiliate.
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Prospect Chris Shaw led the way with his bat. On the same night he changed his walk-up song to "Dancing Queen," ABBA's iconic 1976 hit, Shaw had the time of his life at the plate and clubbed three home runs. He drove in more runs (seven) than the Aces scored Thursday (two).
Shaw should join Dubon in the bigs when rosters expand on Sept. 1, according to NBC Sports Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic, but that wasn't always a given. The 25-year-old began the season in Double-A after playing 101 games with the River Cats in 2018.
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But Shaw took the initial demotion in stride, slashing .288/.368/.500 in 45 games with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. He returned to Sacramento in late May, and has clubbed 21 home runs along with a .298/.354/.596 slash line in 275 Triple-A at-bats since his call-up.
"It gave me a chip on my shoulder," Shaw told MiLB.com's Katie Woo. "I really trusted myself. When you get an assignment like that ... if you're not your biggest supporter and biggest believer, then there's not a lot that's going to go right for you. I never stopped believing that I was a good hitter and a good player. I've kept that mindset all year."
He told Woo he's keeping "Dancing Queen" as his walk-up song for the remainder of the season, too. So if you hear ABBA at Oracle Park during the rest of the season, you'll know why.