SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Giants reliever Javier Lopez jabbed his glove in the direction of the ground ball tumbling back at him Saturday, but in some corner of his brain, he instantly recalled that the Giants played a shift against the hitter, Arizona's Jake Lamb. So Lopez retracted his glove in the hope that his middle infielders would turn a double play.

But as Lopez tracked the bounding ball, he realized that shortstop Brandon Crawford had started moving toward second base rather than in pursuit of the grounder. It looked like the baseball would skip through the infield and the Giants' lead would evaporate. Manager Bruce Bochy, watching the play develop from the dugout, assumed it was a hit and flashed his mind ahead toward his next decision, the reliever he would summon.

Then Crawford swooped in, without a cape or utility belt but with a glove, on the right field side of the bag; he had changed direction in pursuit of the ball. Crawford reached down with a lunge and speared the ball, whirled and threw out Lamb at first base -- so smooth in his movement that he again somehow made a game-changing play with an extraordinary degree of difficulty look somewhat routine. (Here's the play.)

Lopez approached Crawford in the Giants' dugout and said drolly, "You're welcome for your highlight reel."

And Giants starting pitcher Jake Peavy said, "I can tell you that's the biggest play of the game."

Said Bochy: "Crawford came out of nowhere. There's nobody better."

The Giants' 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks here Saturday was saturated with oddities. A foul ball exploded beer and food onto one fan. Arizona's Jake Lamb never saw a pop fly that bounced off his left shoulder, partly because he failed to don his sunglasses. Lopez tumbled awkwardly to the ground as he ran out of the Giants' dugout to warm up, raising his hand to acknowledge the gaffe. Buster Posey banked a return throw into the glove of Jake Peavy when Peavy wasn't looking, and Posey burst out laughing after the game when he saw the video for the first time, on a reporter's phone. "It doesn't look real," he said.

But through that symphony of strange, Crawford was the never-changing baseline, as always, twice sabotaging Arizona rallies with his defense. He is not part of the National League All-Star team in 2016, but he is probably a top-five MVP candidate because of his run production and work in the field. "Brandon Crawford has to be the biggest All-Star snub," said Peavy. "The All-Star Game is missing out not having Crawford at the game."

Crawford is on pace to reach base more than 200 times and drive in 106 runs, but some metrics suggest that Crawford has been to defense in MLB this year what Wayne Gretzky was once to goal-scoring in the NHL. He leads all infielders in Defensive Runs Saved with 19, and the next-closest infielder is Colorado's Nolan Arenado, with 14.

NL leaders in WAR Using FanGraphs' version. Rank/Player WAR 1. Kris Bryant 4.4 2. Corey Seager 3.8 3. Daniel Murphy 3.7 4. Brandon Crawford 3.6

The Giants play in a sizable pitcher-friendly ballpark in conditions that help to create a lot of close games, so fielding a shortstop who makes plays is crucial. To have arguably the best shortstop day after day, then, could be an important reason why San Francisco has the majors' best record.