The San Diego Padres’ playoff run ended in anger and controversy. In a decisive Game 3 Wild Card loss to the Chicago Cubs, a ninth-inning strike call on Xander Bogaerts left the Padres stunned and fueled one of the ugliest postgame scenes of the season.

San Diego trailed 3-0 heading into the ninth before rookie Jackson Merrill gave them life with a solo home run. The next at-bat brought Bogaerts to the plate. With the count full, he took a pitch that appeared to be ball four. Instead, home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn called it a strike. What should have been bases loaded with no outs turned into the first out of the inning, killing the Padres’ momentum.

The Cubs went on to finish the job, winning 3-1 and eliminating San Diego from the Wild Card series and possibly ending Luis Arraez’s stin

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