Xander Bogaerts made the play everyone will remember from the Padres’ 4-3 win in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, but the one he thinks changed the night came earlier - and it never showed up as an out.
In the fifth inning Tuesday night, the San Diego shortstop ranged to his right and dove to stop William Contreras’ ground ball on the edge of the outfield grass in left field. The official line on the play was an infield single, but Bogaerts saw it as much more than that.
“I firmly believe the diving play probably was the momentum shift during the game,” he said following the Padres' 4-3 win. “I mean, if that ball goes by, we’re losing by a run now, and they still can hit, dugout going crazy for them.
Our dugout is not going crazy, you know. We’re going silent, so the crowd gets out of the game right there.
And now we got to come back from behind. And they probably have a different strategy with the bullpen."
The situation around him backed up that view. Sal Frelick, who was running from second on contact, had to slam on the brakes when Bogaerts made the stop. Bogaerts said that if the ball got through, a run would have scored, and San Diego would have been playing from behind.
What happened next made the inning even bigger. Left-hander Yuki Matsui came in for right-hander Jason Adam, and Brewers batter Brice Turang followed with a slow roller to shortstop. Bogaerts then handled Contreras at second for a routine force out, ending the inning with the game tied 2-2.
The play on Christian Yelich’s game-ending grounder drew plenty of attention too - Statcast gave it a 63% probability of becoming a hit - but Bogaerts’ stop on Contreras was the tougher one to appreciate in the moment. There was no throw, no out, and no loud finish to spotlight it.
Bogaerts didn’t miss the difficulty, though.
“as soon as the ball was hit, I didn’t even think I had a chance. And the more I kept going, I just dove, and it went in the glove. I was pretty impressed that it hit the glove.”
He’s now 6-for-17 in the playoffs and has been sharp defensively at shortstop as well. Since the start of last postseason, Bogaerts has put together a 10-game postseason on-base streak and is 11-for-34 (.324) over that span.
He’s also been one of San Diego’s hottest bats down the stretch. In 27 games since the start of September, including the postseason, he’s hitting .322 with three home runs, eight RBI, 16 walks, 20 runs, a .425 OBP, a .500 SLG and a .925 OPS.
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