Definition of "pinch-hit" [pinch-hit]

• Baseball To bat in place of a player scheduled to bat, especially when a hit is badly needed. (verb-intransitive)
• Informal To substitute for another in a time of need. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He pinch-hit for Jesus Flores in the fifth and then caught the remainder of the game."
• "On September 27, 1998, in just the second start of his Major League career, Halladay lost a no-hitter with two outs in the 9th inning on a pinch-hit home run by Detroit's Bobby Higginson."
• "End 5, 2:29: Bryce Harper pinch-hit for Jayson Werth with one out and lashed an opposite-field to left, his big-league hit, off Pedro Beato."