squeeze play

noun

1

: a baseball play in which a runner on third base starts for home plate as the ball is being pitched and the batter attempts to bunt to give the runner a chance to score

2

: the exertion of pressure in order to extort a concession or gain a goal

Examples of squeeze play in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Fermin’s sixth-inning bunt on the safety squeeze play that scored Laureano was his fourth sacrifice hit with the Padres, which is tied for third on the team behind Luis Arraez (10) and Martin Maldonado (six). —Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Aug. 2025

But leadoff hitter Austin Martin failed to get down a bunt on a safety squeeze play. —John Shipley, Twin Cities, 15 Aug. 2025

San Francisco executed a squeeze play — Brett Wisely bunting, Ramos scoring. —Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 7 May 2025

Little Margin for Error Image Near the end of his shift, the controller handling both helicopters and commercial jets tried to pull off a complicated, and potentially risky, maneuver called a squeeze play. —Kate Kelly, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1905, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for squeeze play

• andromache
• bioassay
• cabriolet
• cercariae
• communique
• companionway
• compositae
• decussate
• examinee
• fabaceae
• glyphosate
• microarray