comebacker

noun

come·​back·​er ˈkəm-ˌba-kər 

plural comebackers

1

baseball : a ground ball hit directly to the pitcher

… Cormier had retired Mo Vaughn … on a weak comebacker to the mound to end the seventh.

—Gordon Edes

2

golf : a putt back to the hole after a preceding putt has rolled past it

After pitching to within 20 feet of the pin, Junior runs his first putt four feet past and then misses the comebacker.

—Jaime Diaz

Examples of comebacker in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The team said Treinen had a bruised lung, though no broken ribs, because of a comebacker that nailed him in his side during an appearance Saturday. —Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024

In the first inning, Nia Carter took off for home on a comebacker to Illinois State pitcher Paige McLeod and was thrown out at the plate. —Chip Souza, arkansasonline.com, 23 Feb. 2024

But the comebacker to the face at the start of the fifth halted what appeared to be a good run of starts in the making. —Julian McWilliams, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2023

The inning ended with Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol nonchalantly fielding Estrada’s comebacker, flipping the ball from his glove to his throwing hand and firing a fastball to first to extend his scoreless streak to 23 innings over 22 appearances. —Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2023

The right-hander, who missed nearly three months with a broken bone in his right foot after taking a comebacker off it in April, was hit again Wednesday night in New York, this time by a 119.5 mph liner off the bat of Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton with two outs in the first inning. —Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 7 Sep. 2023

Matt Manning breaks foot again on another comebacker, Tigers lose to Yankees, 4-3 E-Rod charged Staked to a seven-run lead, Rodriguez faltered in the fourth, giving up a walk and a single sandwiched around a groundout by Giancarlo Stanton to put runners on the corners. —Ryan Ford, Detroit Free Press, 8 Sep. 2023

Scary moment for Skubal Left-hander Tarik Skubal started his ninth game since returning from flexor tendon surgeries, and in the fourth inning, the 26-year-old took a comebacker off his left leg and fell to the ground. —Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press, 23 Aug. 2023

Gray took a comebacker to his lower leg off the bat of Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz and exited after a few minutes of attention from Rangers’ trainers and staff. —Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 21 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1954, in the meaning defined at sense 1