How to Use breaking ball in a Sentence

breaking ball

noun
  • The breaking ball wasn’t as sharp.
    — Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 21 Aug. 2025
  • The breaking ball was good, got some swing and miss.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 19 Mar. 2026
  • The breaking ball was good, got some swing and miss.
    — Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 18 Mar. 2026
  • And the breaking ball is Dancer, right?
    — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 29 May 2026
  • The breaking ball’s always been his third pitch.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 16 Aug. 2025
  • Go in and out with the heater, try to finish with the breaking ball.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2026
  • Stallings hung the breaking ball and Bader wasn’t fooled.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 26 Feb. 2026
  • The second swing was more of an off-balanced flail, the telltale sign of being fooled by a breaking ball.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 28 June 2026
  • But Gray probably has the better breaking ball.
    — Eno Sarris, New York Times, 19 Feb. 2026
  • After two pitches, Yearwood threw his breaking ball.
    — Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 18 Mar. 2026
  • In the first inning, Pasquantino laced a breaking ball into center field.
    — Kansas City Star, 15 Mar. 2026
  • The at-bat continued and Kelly struck Correa out with a breaking ball in the dirt.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2026
  • Mora strikesout swinging, and Qualia gets Carson on a breaking ball that nicks the corner of the zone.
    — Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 24 Feb. 2026
  • The pitch value on his breaking ball ranks in the 98th percentile, according to Statcast.
    — Jim Bowden, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
  • For Devers, who now has 11 home runs this season, the 413-foot blast was his first homer this season off a breaking ball.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 20 June 2026
  • The catcher also appeared to be looking for a breaking ball earlier in the second, allowing a fastball to clank off his glove and go to the backstop.
    — Levi Weaver, New York Times, 25 June 2026
  • By January, the fastball cut sharper through the zone and the breaking ball landed with more regularity.
    — Ira Gorawara, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026
  • Later, Doval spiked a breaking ball to Yordan Alvarez, scoring another run.
    — Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2025
  • Pinch-hitter Jose Tabata fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches before Scherzer clipped him on the elbow with a breaking ball.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2026
  • Webb’s 1-2 sweeper to Turang was down and away, nowhere near the strike zone, but Turang found a way to get under the breaking ball and flip it into left field.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 4 June 2026
  • Nick Lodolo’s breaking ball Lodolo’s sweeping breaking ball, which is called both a slider and a curveball by different catchers, is an oldie but a goodie.
    — C. Trent Rosecrans, New York Times, 25 Mar. 2026
  • The Wichita State transfer drilled a breaking ball at the bottom of the zone out to right-center field for a grand slam, Texas' second of the weekend.
    — David Eckert, Austin American Statesman, 8 Mar. 2026
  • Dylan Volantis gave up two baserunners to start the bottom half, then collected three consecutive strikeouts with his breaking ball to escape the jam.
    — David Eckert, Austin American Statesman, 1 Mar. 2026
  • Twins officials believe Ellwanger’s breaking ball is underrated and every bit as promising as his high-90s fastball.
    — Aaron Gleeman, New York Times, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Schoolcraft could be next year’s Cam Caminiti, going from outside the top 100 to the top 50 if his breaking ball continues to develop.
    — Keith Law, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2026
  • Kumar Rocker’s breaking ball Rocker’s primary breaking pitch is somewhat enigmatic.
    — Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 24 Mar. 2026
  • Stankiewicz credited Trojans pitching coach Sean Allen for helping Edwards, known for his rising heater, improve his curveball and develop his breaking ball.
    — Joaquin Ruiz, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2026
  • Verlander, in vintage form, pinpointed a breaking ball that froze Ha-Seong Kim for strike three — his seventh punchout of the night and the 3,510th of his career.
    — Evan Webeck, Mercury News, 17 Aug. 2025
  • In the bottom of the fourth inning with a runner on second against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night, Rushing struck out on a breaking ball out of the zone and was not pleased with himself.
    — Ryan Morik, FOXNews.com, 15 May 2026
  • The numbers screamed for Madison Bumgarner, with the 2014 World Series championship on the line, to throw Kansas City’s Salvador Perez a breaking ball in the dirt.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'breaking ball.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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