“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, Troy Stokes Jr.

It’s been far too long since I did one of these, but I think that Troy Stokes Jr is a phenomenal choice to go with as a start picking this series back up.

Stokes had an incredibly brief major league career. For someone who traveled around multiple different organizations, leagues, and cities across North America, Stokes only has 20 major league plate appearances to his name.

Stokes played eight major league games in his career, all for the Pirates in 2021. For Stokes, that brief journey was a long time coming. He made his professional debut in 2014 and worked his way up through the farm system of the Milwaukee Braves.

After his 2018 season in Double-A, the Brewers elevated him to their 40-man roster for the 2019 season. Stokes broke through to the Triple-A level with San Antonio, but never received a call from Milwaukee and was designated for assignment on September 1st of that season.

Two days later, the Detroit Tigers put in a claim on Stokes, but the right-handed hitter did not play a game for the rest of the season.

In 2020, he underwent surgery to repair a broken bone in his hand, taking him out of play for the 2020 season. The good thing for him was that he wasn’t missing much; the minor league seasons were canceled as Covid tore through the country and the world.

To add insult to injury, though, Stokes was DFA’d by Detroit, having never played a game within the organization. On January 12th, a week after the Tigers DFA’d him, the Pirates put in a claim.

Pittsburgh would subsequently DFA him as well, but Stokes went unclaimed this time, and was sent to Triple-A Indianapolis.

The Backstory

Stokes had played just four games in Indianapolis before he was plucked from the team by Pittsburgh. With first baseman Colin Moran heading to the 10-Day IL, the Pirates selected the contract of Stokes and promoted him to the major leagues for the first time in his career on May 9th, 2021.

He was joining a team that was dedicated to the tank. The 2021 Pirates were the first of back-to-back teams to lose 100+ games as the front office tore this organization down to the studs. This Pirates roster suffered and sacrificed so that future Pirates teams could be better. It hasn’t worked yet, but that’s a conversation for another day.

Stokes gave the Pirates an extra outfielder to deploy, and he made his major league debut later that day at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs. His first two games saw him put up very quiet offensive numbers; Stokes was 0-for-8 in his first two starts with a pair of strikeouts.

In his second game, Stokes was witness to a 14-1 beatdown at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds. With the Pirates looking for a bounce back performance on May 11th, Stokes finally put his bat to use.

The Game

On a sunny Tuesday night at PNC Park, the Pirates faced off against the Reds for the second game of their three-game series. Covid safety measures still had much of the seating at PNC Park covered with barriers, and a decent chunk of the 4,000 fans who made it to the game that night can be seen wearing masks.

Pirates righty JT Brubaker took to the mound for the Pirates, opposite Reds righty Jeff Hoffman.

For the third straight game, then-manager Derek Shelton put Stokes in right field and had him bat eighth (this was still in a time where pitchers had to bat in the NL, so Brubaker occupied the ninth spot).

Adam Frazier led off the bottom of the first inning with a single and would eventually score Pittsburgh’s first run of the game. A Bryan Reynolds double and a wild pitch by Reds righty Jeff Hoffman scored Frazier to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead.

Stokes‘ first time at the plate came in the second inning, where he hit a flyball to right field for the final out of the inning.

A solo home run by Cincinnati’s Jesse Winker in the top of the third inning tied the game, and although the Pirates earned two walks in the bottom half of that inning, they could not regain the lead. Brubaker rebounded with a three-up, three-down top of the fourth, and when the Pirates came back up to the plate, this time they were able to respond.

Erik Gonzalez started the inning with a groundout, but Ka’ai Tom was plunked by a pitch to put him on first. Kevin Newman then lined a triple to the left field wall that rolled into the center field gap, scoring Tom and putting a runner 90 feet away scoring when Stokes came back up to the plate.

Stokes got into one over the middle of the plate for a single into left field, scoring Tom and giving Stokes his first major league hit.

As if notching your first MLB hit isn’t cool enough, Stokes‘ first RBI in the show would eventually stand as the game-winning run.

Brubaker pitched a scoreless fifth, and his teammates gave him an extra ounce of run support in the bottom half of the inning. Reynolds drew a walk and was subsequently brought home on a double from Philip Evans.

Brubaker’s day finished after he faced the minimum in the sixth, including a flyout to Stokes on the right field line.

In the bottom of the sixth, Stokes was up for a third time. He worked a walk off Reds reliever Cionel Pérez, and with two outs, took off running for second base. If Reds shortstop Kyle Farmer is able to field the throw from catcher Tucker Barnhart, Stokes is probably out. But hey, it still worked. Stokes, who snagged 14 bags in his last full Triple-A season, now had his first MLB stolen base.

Unfortunately for Stokes, Frazier would ground out, stranding Stokes at second.

Chris Stratton took over for the Pirates in the seventh, walking a batter but otherwise pitching a clean inning. Stokes recorded his second and final putout of the game, gloving an Eugenio Suárez lineout.

Former Pirate (and current Indianapolis Indian) Carson Fulmer matched Stratton’s work: one walk and three outs.

David Bednar, still in his early days as a Pirate, came on in the eighth. Cincinnati’s Nick Senzel tagged him for a single that bounced off the first base bag and rolled to Stokes to kick off the inning. Winker then notched a double, scoring Senzel.

The Pirates’ relay to throw home was too late to catch Senzel, but catcher Jacob Stallings was able to get the ball back to Gonzalez at third base to tag Winker out, who tried to extend the play and paid for it. Winker was clearly upset with himself.

After Bednar recorded a strikeout of Nick Castellanos for the second out, Shelton replaced him with Sam Howard, who got a flyball to end the inning.

With Fulmer still on the mound to start the bottom of the eighth, Tom led off with a single to right field. Newman grounded a ball to the shortstop, where the Reds were only able to get the forceout at second base. Shelton and the Pirates challenged the call, but the ruling was upheld; Tom out at second, Newman safe at first.

Then came Stokes. With Newman already taking off on a 3-2 pitch, Stokes launched a ground ball past the third baseman and down the left field line. Newman scored and Stokes made it easily into second base for his first extra-base hit in the big leagues.

That play chased Fulmer from the game, with the Reds putting in Sean Doolittle in relief. Frazier quickly welcomed him to the game, smashing a two-run homer deep to right field to put the Pirates ahead 7-2, scoring himself and Stokes.

Reynolds made the final Pirate out, and righty Richard Rodriguez came on for the final three outs in the ninth. Pittsburgh was able to raise the Jolly Roger and Stokes had himself a night full of career firsts.

“It’s funny but last night I really didn’t sleep,” Stokes said after the game. “I’d be lying to say it didn’t weigh on me a little bit, but now that it’s over it feels great. Getting RBI on both hits, that’s kind of like icing on the cake. I just wanted to get my first knock.”

The Aftermath

Unfortunately for Stokes, this game wasn’t the beginning of some legendary career arc. Oddly enough, manager Shelton and the Pirates opted to use him sparingly moving forward.

Stokes appeared in the team’s next four games, but all as a pinch hitter who did not remain in the game. He went 0-for-3 in those appearances; his only other time getting on base at the major league level after the May 11th game was when he was hit by a pitch on the 15th. He did eventually score a run on a wild pitch in that game.

Stokes would make his final major league start on the 16th, where he played right field and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and three putouts.

The following day, Stokes was DFA’d by the Pirates. He was the corresponding move for the Pirates claiming infielder Ildemaro Vargas off waivers from Chicago.

Vargas was 3-for-21 in brief work with the Cubs, but his versatility around the diamond was why the Pirates claimed him. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Colin Moran, and Phillip Evans had all landed on the IL, and Stokes, being an outfielder, was seen as expendable as the Pirates searched for infielding help.

Stokes was outrighted to Triple-A Indianapolis, and on May 22nd, was suiting up again for the Indians. Stokes was there for about a month before he was involved in a minor league trade that sent him back to the Brewers organization.

Stokes slashed .161/.297/.274 in 25 games with Indianapolis before the trade, and slashed .199/.297/.309 in 69 games with Triple-A Nashville after the deal.

After the 2021 season, Stokes signed with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He had two decent years there, but moved on and signed a deal with the Dorados de Chihuahua in the Mexican League for the 2024 campaign. However, he was released before the start of the season and soon after announced his retirement from professional baseball.

Stokes finished with a brief MLB career that saw him go 2-for-18 with a pair of RBI, a walk, a stolen base, and five strikeouts. But he still made it to the show, an incredible achievement. And on May 11th, 2021, he provided the game-winner.

P.S., I hope you appreciate the fact that I didn’t make a “stoked” pun throughout this entire piece. It was really hard not to!