It was only fitting that Christian Yelich hit a ground ball to shortstop where Xander Bogaerts fielded the ball and completed an unassisted double play to help the San Diego Padres secure a 4-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers
in Game 3 of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Tuesday night.
Bogaerts was instrumental at multiple points throughout the game. His diving stop deep in the hole at shortstop in the top of the fifth inning did not take away a hit, but it did keep the Brewers from scoring a run. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Bogaerts hopped over a ground ball off the bat of Miguel Andujar. Bogaerts also avoided the broken bat of Andujar which was right behind the ball. The play by Bogaerts combined with the distracting broken bat caused Milwaukee shortstop Cooper Pratt to throw short to first base. The ball skipped past Jake Bauers and went into foul territory. Andujar reached safely and Bogaerts slid into home to give San Diego a one-run lead on what proved to be the winning run.
Michael King took the mound in relief in the top of the eighth
inning and got through the top half of the frame without much trouble. The Padres were unable to add to their lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. On a night when San Diego did not have Mason Miller who was placed on paternity leave
prior to the start of the game, and Adrian Morejon who seemed to be unavailable, King returned to the mound in the ninth and got the first two outs. He then allowed a walk to William Contreras and a walk to Bryce Tourang. Yelich came to the plate and on the first pitch after a mound visit from Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, King got the Brewers captain to ground into a game-ending double play to help San Diego stave off elimination
.
Nick Pivetta started on the mound for the Padres and left the game after 4 1/3 innings with a 2-1 lead. There were runners at second and third base and Jason Adam was called on to try to strand them there. Adam induced a shallow fly ball to left field that was caught by Dustin Harris for the second out, but Pratt tested Harris and raced home and slid in safely well ahead of the throw to make the score 2-2. Jake Cronenworth changed that with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning which put the Padres back in front, 3-2.
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Bogaerts was not the only San Diego player to make game saving plays on defense. Jackson Merrill took away extra bases when he ran deep into the left-center gap and made a sliding backhanded catch to take away extra bases from Jackson Chourio. Merrill followed that up with a play in the top of the third inning with a play in the right-center gap to take away an extra-base hit from Sal Frelick, prompting a response from Brewers manager Pat Murphy.
San Diego will face its second elimination game in as many days when the Padres and Brewers meet tonight at 7 p.m. for Game 4.
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