Before he started the game-ending double play in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday night, San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts made a play that went down in the box score as an infield single for Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras.

Bogaerts dove to his right to stop Contreras' ground ball on the edge of the outfield grass where it meets the dirt in left field in the fifth. There was no way he could throw to any base to record an out — all of which made the play easy to overlook once the score went final.

Ask Bogaerts, however, and he'll tell you it was one of the most important plays of the game.

“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 context is everything: Sal Frelick, who was running from second base on contact, had to throw on the brakes immediately after Bogaerts came up with Contreras' grounder. Bogaerts wasn't being hyperbolic when he assumed a run would have scored on the play if the ball got through.

The only piece of context he left out: left-hander Yuki Matsui immediately relieved right-hander Jason Adam. The Brewers' next batter, Brice Turang, hit a slow roller to shortstop. Bogaerts hardly broke a sweat to retire Contreras at second base on a routine force out. That ended the inning with the score tied 2-2.

While few missed the degree of difficulty when Bogaerts fielded Christian Yelich's game-ending grounder — Statcast assessed the probability of a hit on Yelich's ball at 63% — it was harder to estimate the challenge Bogaerts faced in taking a hit away from Contreras.

For his part, Bogaerts said "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.”

Xander Bogaerts Having Another Strong Postseason for Padres

Bogaerts is now 6-for-17 in the playoffs and has played some stellar defense at shortstop.

Dating back to last 2024, he has a 10-game postseason on-base streak in which he's 11-for-34 (.324).

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