June 8, 2018

Games In Which A Team Finishes With Nine Hits, With Every Starter Having Exactly One

The Phillies beat the Cubs 6-1 on Tuesday night. They finished the game with nine hits - one from each hitter in the starting lineup.

Using Baseball Reference's Play Index, I looked for games with the most number of players who started and finished the game and had exactly one hit. (Obviously, the highest number would be nine (whether having the pitcher hit or using a DH).)

I found 17 games since 1908 (the earliest year for which we have fully searchable box scores).
Giants vs Phillies          October 1, 1908 (G1)
Boston (NL) vs Phillies     July 3, 1909 (G2)
Senators vs Red Sox         Septmeber 13, 1911
Cleveland vs Tigers         July 4, 1916 (G2)
Phillies vs Cubs            May 21, 1917
Pirates vs Reds             May 27, 1921
Reds vs Cubs                May 30, 1924 (G2)
Athletics vs White Sox      September 27, 1928
Red Sox vs Browns           July 14, 1940 (G2)
Cleveland vs Browns         May 31, 1948 (G1)
Rangers vs Twins            August 6, 1976
Athletics vs Angels         July 28, 1977
Blue Jays vs Athletics      July 1, 1990
Orioles vs Royals           July 11, 1990
Angels vs Orioles           May 23, 1992
Tigers vs Twins             June 14, 1996
Rangers vs Athletics        May 3, 2008
However, the Phillies pitcher did not finish Tuesday's game. So I then looked for games with the most number of players who started the game and had exactly one hit. There were 77 of those games before the Phillies joined the list. It has happened way more often than I would have thought.

Thanks to Jeff A. for alerting me to the Phillies' box score. (This certainly falls under my love of unique linescores.)

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Bonus: What is the most hits a team has had when no player had more than one hit?

Answer: 12.
Mets vs Cubs on September 18, 1977 (G2) (13 players batted)
White Sox (vs A's), September 7, 1970 (G2) (16 players batted)
(It's a little strange that both instances were the second games of doubleheaders.)

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