wild pitch
In baseball, a pitch that is too high, too low, or too far to either side for the catcher to control, thus allowing a runner to advance to another base. Otero's wild pitch allowed the Blue Jays' runner to make it up to third base, and the line drive by the next batter sent him home to earn a tie-breaking run.
wild pitch
A careless statement or action, as in Calling comic books great literature-that's a wild pitch. This term comes from baseball, where it signifies a pitched ball so far off target that the catcher misses it, enabling a base runner to advance. [Mid-1900s]