Skip to main content
bottom of the inning

bottom of the inning

1 6.1
The second half of an inning when the home team bats
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : parte baja de la entrada
  • During the bottom of the inning, the pitcher struck out three batters in a row.
  • bottom of the inning, Snyder's homer
  • runs in the bottom of the inning

Examples

  • 33 pitches for Hand in the bottom of the inning after an 18-pitch top of the first for John Lannan...

    Blog text (18)
  • Instead, Dustin Pedroia homered in the bottom of the inning to tie it.

    Blog text (32)
  • Starting off the bottom of the inning, Barry Matthews.

  • Ryan Webb retired the Nats in order on 10 pitches in the bottom of the inning.

    Blog text (18)
  • Andy Pettitte retires the Orioles until the bottom of the inning.

    Blog text (29)
  • He was rewarded with a W when Maicer Izturis drove in Peter Bourjos with two outs in the bottom of the inning for the victory.

    Blog text (3)
  • In the bottom of the inning, the Reds managed to tie it up when Todd Frazier doubled in The Eternal Miguel Cairo (remember that name).

    Blog text (15)
  • After the Blaze tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth, Jarrett Parker led off the bottom of the inning with a towering home run to right for the win.

    Blog text (2)
  • The Bucs battled back in the bottom of the inning, clogging up the bases and pushing in two runs on a Brandon Wood sac fly and a Ronny Cedeno RBI single.

    Blog text (20)
  • The team rallied with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.

Synonyms

bottom
vsbottom of the inning
  • Jargon
55 6.0

The second half of a baseball inning when the home team bats

is the longer phrase for the same inning half

How Late

bottom of the ninth
  • Informal
10 7.4
bottom of the inning
  • US
1 6.1
kickoff
37 3.7

Surface Forms

Morphology

bottom + of + the + inning

The meaning is directly derived from combining 'bottom' (the lower part) with 'inning' (a baseball period): it denotes the lower/second half of the inning when the home team bats. This is a straightforward, compositional noun phrase following normal English structure, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words should be able to infer the meaning.

Etymology

Bottom of the inning comes from how baseball splits an inning into two parts: the 'top' (first half) and the bottom (second half). In the bottom of the inning the 'home team' bats, so it means the second half of the inning when the home team has a chance to score.