“Game Of His Life” tells the story of Pittsburgh athletes who may not have had the most illustrious, Hall of Fame level careers, but had one absolutely amazing game. In today’s edition, Drew Sutton.

Drew Sutton is exactly the kind of player that this series is all about.

A man who accurred just 128 major league games under his belt (which is more than you or me, but I’m sure he was hoping for more), Sutton could never find a solid place to call home in his baseball career.

Spending parts of four seasons with five different teams, littered with several minor league stints, Sutton essentially did a tour of east coast cities before concluding it in Pittsburgh for what would be his final major league games.

Sutton played 24 games for the Pirates in 2012, after coming over from the Tampa Bay Rays organization via the waiver wire.

He joined the Bucs in the end of June, and hung around in Pittsburgh until the very end of July. He wasn’t half bad in his Pirates run, batting .243, but struggled with some high strikeout numbers.

He had a few memorable moments with the Pirates, but none come even remotely close to July 3rd, 2012.

The Backstory

The 2012 Pittsburgh Pirates are often remembered for being the year before the magical 2013 playoff run.

It was a team that had spent the year slowly building up to a very successful 2013 campaign, and young Bucs like Andrew McCutchen once again dominated at the plate.

But some people forget just how good this 2012 team was at one point. They were the ones who looked poised to be a playoff team, and in the heat of the summer, they stood atop their own division and looking beyond to October baseball.

Of course, to get to that peak, the Pirates had to have a good July, but vibes were high for Pittsburgh.

As they were for Sutton. After coming over from Tampa Bay, Sutton had 8 hits in 7 games for the Pirates so far, including coming into this particular contest on back to back two hit games.

But appearing in just his eighth game as a Pirate, Sutton was about to deliver Pittsburgh an even better performance.

The Game

On a hot summer night in early July, the Pirates hosted the Houston Astros at PNC Park. That night starting pitching matchup pinned Pittsburgh’s AJ Burnett against Houston’s Lucas Harrell.

Neither one would have a good evening on the mound.

Both would last 5 innings, with Burnett giving up 12 hits and 6 runs, and Harrell giving up 9 hits and 5 runs. Harrell, had the strikeout numbers to balance things out a little, getting 9 Pirates batters to punch out. Burnett had 5 on the night.

Sutton was due up second in the batting order, and unlike some other players featured in this series, his performance didn’t start right away. He was the first strikeout for Harrell on the night.

Meanwhile, the Astros had kicked off the scoring first. The Astros play small ball in the top of the second inning, capitalizing on some luck and a two stolen bases to take an early 2-0 lead.

After a three up, three down inning for the Pirates, Houston comes back and makes it 3-0 with back to back doubles.

Once again, the Pirates go down in order, this time striking out all three times.

Houston puts another run on the board, this time making it 4-0, but thus time around Pittsburgh responds.

Up to bat first in the bottom of the fourth, Sutton knocks in a single right up the middle, his first of three hits on the night. Then, on the very next at bat, he reaches home plate, when Andrew McCutchen slams one deep into right field to make it a cut Houston’s lead in half.

Burnett is able to hold the Astros off the scoresheet in the fifth inning, and Sutton tries his best to take advantage.

With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Sutton hits a chip shot right to the Astros pitcher, who is unable to corral it in time, and Sutton reaches first base safely for his second hit of the game.

Unfortunately, a strikeout from the next batter ends the inning, stranding Sutton.

Following that, the Astros’ bats combine for two runs in the top of the sixth, erasing the loss from McCutchen’s home run and extending their lead to 6-2. This inning also ended Burnett’s night.

But the Pirates didn’t waiver under that steep lead. They chased Harrell from the game and stormed back to score three runs in the sixth, making it 6-5. Three straight singles brought in the first run, and a wild pitch by Astros reliever Fernando Rodriguez Jr. helped pinch hitter Pedro Alvarez bring in two more.

With momentum now on his team’s side, Pirates reliever Juan Cruz gets three up and three down, setting up Pittsburgh for a Garrett Jones two-run homer to give the Pirates the lead in the bottom of the seventh.

The teams play a scoreless eighth, but Houston won’t quit just yet. Pirates closer Joel Hanrahan’s walked batter comes back to haunt him, when he gives up a double, allowing Houston’s runner at first to score and tie the game. Hanrahan halts things there, but the Pirates now go into the bottom of the ninth tied.

After Astros closer Wesley Wright gets Gorkys Hernandez to strike out, Drew Sutton comes back out for his fifth at-bat. With two hits and two strikeouts on the night, Sutton stood with a chance to call game.

On a 1-1 pitch that hung just over the plate, Sutton blasts it all the way past center field and out of the park.

PNC Park went into a frenzy as Sutton rounded the bases, greeting a mob of celebrating teammates at home plate.

It was Sutton’s finest hour.

The Aftermath

The moment stood as perhaps the best game of Sutton’s major league career. He came into the game having just 3 big league home runs, but none were as important as this one.

It was just his third major league game with 3 hits, and first one of the year.

And the best part was, he did that against the team that originally drafted him. Sutton was a 15th round pick by the Astros in 2004, but never broke through in Houston, instead being dealt to Cincinnati in a 2009 spring training deal.

Sutton would go on to spend just the rest of July with the Pirates. He appeared in 16 more games for Pittsburgh, but his magic had faded just as quickly as it appeared. After the July 3rd game, he batted just .149 with the team, and recorded just 7 more hits in a Pirates uniform.

After acquiring Travis Snider in a trade deadline deal, the Pirates designated Sutton for assignment. He played in 12 games for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A affiliate in Indianapolis, but never found his footing there, batting .048 in that time.

Sutton found his way back to the Boston Red Sox organization (where he spent the 2011 season). He played the full 2013 year for their Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket, his final professional season.

As for the Pirates, a joyous July was erased by an egregious August. The Pirates absolutely collapsed late in the season, culminating in a September that saw the Pirates go 7-21 and fall below .500, a devastating fall for a once rather promising team.

(Featured photo by Charles LeClaire/USA Today Sports)