How to Use called strike in a Sentence

called strike

noun
  • In baseball, balls are called strikes.
    — Harvey Levine, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 Jan. 2026
  • Pitchers can’t count on those balls just off the plate to be called strikes.
    — Kevin Sherrington mar. 25, Dallas Morning News, 25 Mar. 2026
  • What turned out to be ball four was initially called strike three.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 Apr. 2026
  • The second and eighth pitches of the at-bat were called strikes.
    — Johnny Flores Jr, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
  • See all those missing balls middle-up that were called strikes in the past?
    — Eno Sarris, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
  • In the seventh inning, a pitch that should have been ball four was called strike one.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
  • Bieber’s slider spun off the outside corner for a total of 13 whiffs and called strikes.
    — Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • By contrast, only 32 pitches out of the zone were called strikes against Trout.
    — Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 25 Feb. 2026
  • His curveball, which has generated nine total called strikes or whiffs, has drawn rave reviews from the big leaguers in camp.
    — Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 5 Mar. 2026
  • And that precision resulted in 20 called strikes.
    — Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 10 May 2026
  • That said, there were still 15,000+ strikes that were called balls and 11,000+ balls that were called strikes.
    — Eno Sarris, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
  • During his second at bat to lead off the bottom of the third, Abreu took a 3-2 sinker that was up and in but initially called strike three.
    — Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 1 Mar. 2026
  • His curveball has generated nine total whiffs or called strikes in two games against big league hitters and has only been hit into play twice on 26 throws.
    — Shawn McFarland, Dallas Morning News, 28 Feb. 2026
  • The former was merely 4 percentage points below his career norm, and the latter was unsupported by his whiff and called strike rates.
    — Al Melchior, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
  • Baseball analyst Travis Sawchick once found that higher velocity fastballs were less likely to be called strikes.
    — Eno Sarris, New York Times, 24 Feb. 2026
  • After Will Smith flew out, Max Muncy worked a full count and took a slider near the outside corner that was called strike three by home plate umpire Rob Drake.
    — Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 20 May 2026
  • Ward has had 62 pitches outside the zone called strikes against him this season, which is the second most in the majors, according to Major League Baseball data.
    — Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 24 Sep. 2025
  • The general feeling was that the challenge system will more negatively impact pitchers than hitters because pitchers are liable to lose pitches that are initially called strikes on the edges of the zone, but may be off by a fraction of an inch.
    — Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News, 26 Mar. 2026
  • The right-hander froze Bauer with a curveball just below the zone that home plate umpire Ramon De Jesus called strike three, but Bauer successfully challenged to draw a leadoff walk.
    — Justice Delos Santos, Mercury News, 2 June 2026
  • Skenes struck out four and walked four over 2 1/3 innings for Pittsburgh on Wednesday against the Atlanta Braves, who were 4 for 4 against the right-hander on challenges to get called strikes overturned to balls.
    — ABC News, 25 Feb. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'called strike.' 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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