go-ahead run
Americannoun
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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.
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But Pages dropped the ball on the transfer, allowing the go-ahead run to score.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
In the sixth, an unlucky bounce pushed the go-ahead run across the plate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
After the Americans tied the score in the bottom of the eighth, reliever Garrett Whitlock surrendered a double to Eugenio Suárez in the ninth that plated the go-ahead run.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026
Clase threw 30 of these pitches with the tying or go-ahead run either on base, at the plate, or on deck.
From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2025
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 ● Oct. 11, 2025
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
