pinch-hit

Related to pinch-hit: Pinch batting

pinch-hit

1. In baseball or softball, to bat in place of another player. Let Ben pinch-hit—he's a better hitter than Paul, and you really need to knock in some runs here. In a surprise move, the rookie is going to pinch-hit for the veteran batter.
2. By extension, to do something in place or on behalf of someone else. I have a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I need you to pinch-hit for me on the conference call. I'm afraid I can't make it to the meeting, so my second in command will be there pinch-hitting for me.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

pinch-hit for someone

 
1. Fig. to bat for someone else in a baseball game. Wally Wilson will pinch-hit for Gary Franklin. Rodney Jones is pinch-hitting for Babe DiMaggio.
2. Fig. to substitute for someone in any situation. Bart will pinch-hit for Fred, who is at another meeting today. Who will pinch-hit for me while I am on vacation?
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • pinch-hit for
  • pinch-hit for (someone)
  • power hitter
  • home run
  • pinch hitter
  • reach first base
  • knock up
  • knocked up
  • bad-ball hitter
  • hitter
References in periodicals archive
The Dodgers were on the other end of a series-changing, pinch-hit home run in the 2016 National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs.
Pinch-hitting heroics in October: coming through with a clutch home run as a substitute batter is a lasting postseason memory
Results of other players who pinch-hit are counted as they occurred.
Revisiting Nolan Ryan in 1973: the quest for 400 strikeouts
Several Cub players gathered around home plate umpire, George Magerkurth, to inform him that Bill Jurges, the injured regular shortstop, would pinch-hit for Leroy Herrmann.
August 31, 1932: day of the ineligible player
National League pinch-hit at-bats declined from 2010 through 2013, but rose slightly in 2014.
Pinch hitting
On June 13, 1943, Dee Moore of the Brooklyn Dodgers pinch-hit unsuccessfully for Frenchy Bordagaray in a game against the Boston Braves.
Anomalies of protested and suspended baseball games
Yokohama pulled within 5-4 in the fifth inning when Dan Johnson followed Ishikawa's two-run double with a pinch-hit, two-run homer.
2ND LD: Baseball: Tamura hits go-ahead two-run jack as Hawks rally over F's
Hanshin then tied the score when Norihiro Akahoshi followed Keisuke Kano's pinch-hit RBI single with a run-scoring double before Kanemoto's second hit of the inning made it 9-7.
Baseball: Tigers go rampant in 9th to beat Marines
The blow had several other distinctive features: it was a pinch-hit home run; it was a game-winning hit; it was an inside-the-park home run; and it came off a future Hall of Fame pitcher.
Willard Brown, a forgotten ballplayer: he hit a milestone home run
Baez, who had to leave quickly after the game and was not available to talk, came through in his first pinch-hit appearance of the season.
Bryant starts closing rally; Baez finishes it on 1 pitch
Janelle Lindvall drove in six runs with a homer and double, Stevie Jo Knapp had a pinch-hit homer and Lauren Lindvall had a triple while driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Rolling Ducks hit it big in Vegas
North Middlesex's Leo LeClair had a pinch-hit solo homer to tie the game in the the sixth.
Patriots upend Panthers
Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder notched his first home run of the series in the fourth inning to give Detroit a 2-0 lead, and Avisail Garcia pinch-hit in the eighth inning to score Omar Infante with a single to right and padded the lead to 3-1 before Oakland's late-game heroics.
ALDS Game 5 Preview: Oakland Athletics Hope to Complete Comeback Over Detroit Tigers
The four-run fifth inning gave Rakuten a 5-1 lead before Ryuji Miyade added a pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth at Seibu Dome.
LEAD: Baseball: Kusano sparks 4-run 5th as Rakuten keeps grip on PL lead
After breaking a scoreless deadlock, Yokohama scored four times in the ninth, featuring a pinch-hit RBI triple by Takahiro Saeki and capped off with Masaaki Koike's two-run single at Koshien Stadium.
Baseball: Yokohama breaks deadlock in 8th, downs Hanshin
Warwickshire showed some adventure by sending in Neil Carter to pinch-hit. But he sliced to slip in the fourth over and when Nick Knight also fell to slip, with 271 still needed from 37 overs, the chase was called off and a wretchedly dull cricket match was laid to merciful rest.
Cricket: Bears look to the positives; COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP: Greatbatch hails 'solid' cricket