come to bat

come to bat (third-person singular simple present comes to bat, present participle coming to bat, simple past came to bat, past participle come to bat)

1. (cricket, baseball) To have one's turn at bat.
   • 2015, Andres Wirkmaa, The Complete Baseball Scorekeeping Handbook, →ISBN:

     In that case, the player who was called out for failure to come to bat properly is charged with having been put out, and whatever happened that resulted in the improper batter being put out goes into the scoring box of the batter who failed to bat in proper turn.

   • 2019 July 14, Stephan Shemilt, “England win Cricket World Cup: Ben Stokes stars in dramatic finale against New Zealand”, in BBC Sport‎, London:

     New Zealand stuck doggedly to a plan that centred on batting patience. Henry Nicholls' 55, and 47 from Tom Latham, held things together in the face of some probing England bowling.
     The value of the Black Caps' pragmatism in reaching 241-8 was shown when England came to bat.

2. To argue in defense of.
   • 2012, Leslie Neal-Boylan, Nurses With Disabilities: Professional Issues and Job Retention, →ISBN:

     Unfortunately, if anybody above [the manager] or around her cared, they didn't come to bat for me.