go-ahead run

American  

[goh-uh-hed ruhn] / ˈgoʊ əˌhɛd ˈrʌn /

noun

Baseball.

1. a run that puts the batting team in the lead.

   The runner on third scores easily, and that’s the go-ahead run for Baltimore.

2. the runner who occupies a base closer to home plate than any other runner and who represents the team’s next opportunity to score a tie-breaking run.

   The go-ahead run is on second base, and any decent hit from Jackson is gonna bring him home.

---

Etymology

Origin of go-ahead run

First recorded in 1990–95

Example Sentences

Clase threw 30 of these pitches with the tying or go-ahead run either on base, at the plate, or on deck.

From Slate

It was the first Game 7 that had a ninth-inning home run to tie the score and the first to feature two video reviews that prevented the go-ahead run from scoring.

From Los Angeles Times

Mookie Betts had the first RBI, Tommy Edman knocked in Will Smith with the go-ahead run in the sixth, a hustling Freddie Freeman scored on a wild pickoff attempt, and on and on..

From Los Angeles Times

In the top of the 12th, the Tigers had the potential go-ahead run on third with one out, only for Seattle reliever Eduard Bazardo to wiggle out of the jam.

From The Wall Street Journal

After Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar greeted him with singles to put runners at the corners, Pozo squirted a two-out single over the infield to score pinch-runner Garrett Hampson for the go-ahead run.

From Los Angeles Times