line drive

noun

Definition of line drive

: a batted baseball hit in a nearly straight line usually not far above the ground

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Examples of line drive in a Sentence

He hit a hard line drive to the shortstop.

Recent Examples of line drive from the Web

But his 31-yard attempt in the third quarter was a low line drive that the Bulldogs stuffed at the line of scrimmage.

— alex martin smith, ajc, "The 4 plays that doomed Auburn against Georgia in the SEC championship game," 2 Dec. 2017
Fittingly, the final out of the N.L. Championship Series in Chicago was a line drive to shortstop Charlie Culberson — a fill-in for Corey Seager, the All-Star who has been sidelined with a back injury.

— tyler kepner, New York Times, "Dave Roberts Seeks a Different Shade of Postseason Glory," 22 Oct. 2017
From Witz: Jacobson has had several conversations with Yankees third baseman Todd Frazier, who hit the line drive that struck his daughter.

— dave clark, Cincinnati.com, "Father of girl hit at Yankees game: Frazier a 'world-class athlete ... better person'," 2 Oct. 2017
The likely scenario is netting will be extended beyond both the home and visitor’s dugouts, which could prevent a number of foul ball line drives from entering the stands at high rates of speed.

— anthony fenech, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Tigers developing plan to extend netting at Comerica Park," 26 Sep. 2017
Neris recovered and retired Giancarlo Stanton on a fly to medium center and Phillies leftfielder Hyun Soo Kim dived and caught Christian Yelich’s sinking line drive for the second out.

— santos perez, miamiherald, "Marlins drop below .500 as losing skid hits four and Wild Card hopes dim," 1 Sep. 2017
The game ended with Alex Bregman hitting a line drive to left field off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen to score the winning run.

— chris chavez, SI.com, "Who Won World Series Game 5?," 30 Oct. 2017
Colangelo said the Tigers have been taking a look at additional netting, even before Wednesday’s incident in New York, which should be noted came on a line drive down the leftfield line which likely would not have been protected by netting.

— anthony fenech, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Tigers should exceed MLB standards, expand protective netting," 21 Sep. 2017
In the eighth, the Reds went ahead for good, 7-5, when Barnhart hit a line drive that skipped past a stretching Juan Lagares in center field for a two-run double off Jeurys Familia (1-2), who was pitching for the first time on consecutive days.

— the associated press, New York Times, "Mets Fail to Complete Sweep of Reds Despite Strong Outing by deGrom," 10 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'line drive.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.