Every Way a Five-Hit Game Has Happened
Five hits in one game is already rare. But five hits can create wildly different lines: five singles, four home runs and a double, or dozens of combinations in between.
Using Stathead, I broke down exactly five-hit games by the type of each hit and the resulting total bases. The research returned 2,598 games, covering 37 of the 56 possible combinations.
Scope: Exactly five-hit games only. Research and counts via Stathead.
All 2,598 games
Five-hit games live at the low end
More than seven out of every ten produced between five and eight total bases.
- 5–6 total bases1,083 41.7%
- 7–8 total bases794 30.6%
- 9–10 total bases437 16.8%
- 11–12 total bases204 7.9%
- 13+ total bases80 3.1%
The most common five-hit line is four singles and one double, which has happened 594 times. Five singles is next at 489. At the other extreme, only two games reached 18 total bases—and nobody has reached 19 or 20.
Game count by total bases
The higher the total, the thinner the air
The five-doubles mystery
This is the result I cannot get over. Every step toward a five-double game has happened—and the frequency falls in an almost perfect staircase—until the final step disappears.
4 singles
3 singles
2 singles
1 single
no singles
Five doubles would be a ten-total-base game. It sounds much more attainable than the most explosive lines in the dataset: three games have paired a single with four home runs, and two have paired a double with four home runs. Yet the all-doubles version has never appeared.
Every five-hit combination
The count beside each line is the number of games in the Stathead results. A red zero marks a combination that is possible but has never happened.
5 total bases
489 games- 5 singles489
6 total bases
594 games- 4 singles, 1 double594
7 total bases
398 games- 4 singles, 1 triple114
- 3 singles, 2 doubles284
8 total bases
396 games- 4 singles, 1 home run184
- 3 singles, 1 double, 1 triple125
- 2 singles, 3 doubles87
9 total bases
300 games- 3 singles, 1 double, 1 home run225
- 3 singles, 2 triples12
- 2 singles, 2 doubles, 1 triple50
- 1 single, 4 doubles13
10 total bases
137 games- 3 singles, 1 triple, 1 home run42
- 2 singles, 2 doubles, 1 home run87
- 2 singles, 1 double, 2 triples5
- 1 single, 3 doubles, 1 triple3
- 5 doubles0
11 total bases
119 games- 3 singles, 2 home runs56
- 2 singles, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 home run32
- 2 singles, 3 triples3
- 1 single, 3 doubles, 1 home run24
- 1 single, 2 doubles, 2 triples4
- 4 doubles, 1 triple0
12 total bases
85 games- 2 singles, 1 double, 2 home runs65
- 2 singles, 2 triples, 1 home run4
- 1 single, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run14
- 1 single, 1 double, 3 triples1
- 4 doubles, 1 home run1
- 3 doubles, 2 triples0
13 total bases
27 games- 2 singles, 1 triple, 2 home runs8
- 1 single, 2 doubles, 2 home runs18
- 1 single, 1 double, 2 triples, 1 home run1
- 1 single, 4 triples0
- 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run0
- 2 doubles, 3 triples0
14 total bases
27 games- 2 singles, 3 home runs13
- 1 single, 1 double, 1 triple, 2 home runs8
- 1 single, 3 triples, 1 home run0
- 3 doubles, 2 home runs6
- 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run0
- 1 double, 4 triples0
15 total bases
16 games- 1 single, 1 double, 3 home runs14
- 1 single, 2 triples, 2 home runs2
- 2 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs0
- 1 double, 3 triples, 1 home run0
- 5 triples0
16 total bases
5 games- 1 single, 1 triple, 3 home runs1
- 2 doubles, 3 home runs4
- 1 double, 2 triples, 2 home runs0
- 4 triples, 1 home run0
17 total bases
3 games- 1 single, 4 home runs3
- 1 double, 1 triple, 3 home runs0
- 3 triples, 2 home runs0
18 total bases
2 games- 1 double, 4 home runs2
- 2 triples, 3 home runs0
19 total bases
0 games- 1 triple, 4 home runs0
20 total bases
0 games- 5 home runs0
The 19 lines still waiting to happen
Most of the missing combinations are built around triples, which makes sense. But five doubles sits apart. It requires no triples and no home runs—just the same extra-base hit five times. Baseball has produced the louder five-hit games. Somehow, it is still waiting on this one.