LOS ANGELES -- In judging Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia by his putrid offensive stat line from the 2018 regular season, one wouldn't really be getting the full story. He's actually, at least right now, a good offensive player. It was on display in the top of the seventh inning in Game 3 of the NLCS, when he went deep to give the Brewers two very important insurance runs in a 4-0 victory. 

"That was the third at-bat against [Dodgers starter Walker Buehler]," Arcia said. "He's pitched me the same sequence twice. He started with breaking balls early. I was looking for a fastball that I could put good contact on and thankfully I was able to get it and put a good drive on it." 

Thanks in part to that home run to give the Brewers breathing room, they didn't have to overly exhaust the bullpen in front of Game 4 with a 2-1 lead. Arcia was a huge part of the win Monday. 

Actually, Arcia would have played a significant part in a Game 2 Brewers win, had the bullpen not blown the lead in taking the loss. 

Arcia got the Brewers on the board first with a shot to center field off of Hyun-Jin Ryu, who had been in complete control until that very swing. Ryu would then allow a hit to Wade Miley and a double to Lorenzo Cain and he was done, just like that. Arcia started the rally that got into the Dodgers' bullpen. 

"It's the story of our season. We've had guys step at different times of the year in different ways," Brewers infielder Travis Shaw said after Game 3. "I know everybody talks about [Christian] Yelich and [Lorenzo] Cain, but we've had guys up and down the lineup come in."

True story. The slick-fielding shortstop, Arcia, is now hitting .250 in the in the postseason, but he's slugging .700 with three homers. Again, keep in mind his huge 4-4 against the Cubs in the tiebreaker. 

"I think for Orlando it started in Game 163 against the Cubs," manager Craig Counsell said after Game 3. "He gets four hits that day. And Orlando has always been a guy that you want to put a moment on him, put pressure on him. Put a big moment on him. Put the spotlight on him. He loves it. And I'm not surprised that he's thriving in playoff atmosphere. He has this love and he's wired the right way for this kind of baseball."

"The home runs are probably surprising. The fact that he's playing at a really high level throughout the playoffs, not surprising."

Arcia is the third player in MLB history with three or fewer regular season home runs and at least three postseason home runs (Roberto Perez, 2016 and Willie Randolph, 1981). He's the sixth Brewers player (seventh time) to homer in back-to-back playoff games.

This after a regular season that saw him hit only three home runs with a .236/.268/.307 slash. That was good for an OPS+ of 55, tantamount to saying Arcia was 45 percent worse than an average hitter. His season included two minor-league stints. 

"Every player is going to have their ups and downs, and this year was definitely a lot of downs for me and things weren't going my way so they sent me down," Arcia said. "I was able to work on stuff, recognize pitches and especially breaking balls. Now I do my adjustments and things have been working better and now we're up here in the playoffs." 

"The main focus is just getting my foot down, getting loaded early and being able to recognize pitches. "I think that's what I've been able to do and everything else just takes care of itself." 

Now, I wouldn't have said above that Arcia is a good hitter right now based upon the postseason. That's a six-game sample and that would be ignorant to how baseball works. He would simply be "hot" or "locked in at the moment." Arcia has been hitting well for a while, though. In September and Game 163 -- when Arcia went 4 for 4 and played offensive catalyst in the Brewers vanquishing the Cubs -- Arcia hit .329/.360/.443. So he's now been a stud for six weeks. He had a minor-league history of being a good hitter, too. 

To have a player with his defensive prowess now hitting like this gives the Brewers a weapon toward the bottom of their batting order and really inspires at least a small bit of confidence that the former top-10 prospect can become a superstar after all. He's been a star to this point since the end of August. 

In the meantime ...

"Just ride the wave," Shaw said of Arcia's power surge. "Ride the wave and hope it continues." 

Absolutely. 

And now, the Brewers are two wins away from the World Series and -- dare I say it? -- six wins from the first-ever Brewers World Series title. Like Shaw said, Brewers fans, just ride the wave.