[Ads-l] baseball lingo: to shove (intr)

[Charles C Rice]

I just noticed this usage today and it took some digging to figure it out. It seems to mean "pitched shut out innings" or similar.

An article headline in Saturday's Fansided<https://fansided.com/2023/06/17/braves-jesse-chavez-replacement-ben-heller/> says "Braves: Jesse Chavez replacement returned to MLB after over 1,000 days and shoved." The first paragraph reads:

The Atlanta Braves got a huge boost from their bullpen in the wake of the Jesse Chavez injury by way of Ben Heller on Friday night vs. the Colorado Rockies.

Ben Heller appears to be one helluva Jesse Chavez replacement for the Atlanta Braves<http://fansided.com/mlb/mlb-teams/atlanta-braves>, alright.

Chavez is the spirit animal of the bullpen. Combined, he and Charlie Morton are pushing 100 years old, but it had been over 1,000 days since Heller last pitched in a big-league game. With Chavez going down with a left shin contusion, it was Heller's time to shine. He had not pitched in the big leagues since early Sept. 2020 when he was with the New York Yankees. Heller shoved on Friday.

He struck out five of the eight batters he faced, walking one and allowing two hits over two innings. Heller was exceptional in his return to the Major Leagues. Braves Country was loving it<https://mlb-cuts-diamond.mlb.com/FORGE/2023/2023-06/16/4ec64f0e-290aa50d-bbc9ff40-csvm-diamondx64-asset_1280x720_59_4000K.mp4>.

I could not figure out what Heller was said to have done. I searched MLB text and found a March 1, 2020 article, "Maples throws BP; Morrow hurt; Lester shoves" by Russell Dorsey. Down in the third section we find the description of what Lester did:

Left-hander Jon Lester<https://www.mlb.com/player/452657> had a solid outing as he tossed three shutout innings in the Cubs' 7-3 victory over the Mariners<https://www.mlb.com/gameday/604157> on Sunday at Sloan Park. Lester allowed two hits, struck out four batters and did not allow a walk.

So it seems to specifically refer to shut-out pitching rather than just good pitching in general.

Urban Dictionary has it from 2013:

Shoving

A term in baseball to describe a pitching who is dominating opposing batters.

Example: Matt Harvey of the Mets is shoving right now. He has 8 strikeouts and no walks in three innings.

by RedBeard53, June 18, 2013


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