“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, Andre Jackson.

Andre Jackson didn’t have a prolonged major league career. Despite pitching in parts of three big league seasons and suiting up for two different teams, Jackson only amassed 82.2 innings in an MLB uniform.

He started that work as a Los Angeles Dodger, making his major league debut in August of 2021. He pitched very sparingly for the team over the next three seasons for LA, not really getting a real chance until his second organization.

Jackson was designated for assignment by the Dodgers in June of 2023, before the Pirates came in and swung a cash considerations trade for the righty.

The then-27-year-old was optioned to Triple-A Indianapolis after the Pirates acquired him, where he spent about a month before the club called him up.

Jackson is one of the more random Pirate names you’ll see over the last few years. A mostly inconsequential arm, who only pitched for the team in the dying months of a lost season, Jackson is, to no fault of his own, an easy name to forget.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have his moments in black and yellow, and an August 30th, 2023 game was certainly one of them.

The Backstory

The Pirates were in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, looking for the sweep against the Royals, which would have been their first sweep win since June 27th-29th against San Diego.

Pittsburgh was facing a Royals team deeply immersed in the rebuilding process. Ironically, this kind of game sticks out when you watch where these two franchises are now. The Royals lost 106 games in 2023, and a year later were in the postseason.

The Pirates, meanwhile, seemed to be on the upswing after back-to-back 100-loss campaigns, but even today, have yet to get within shouting distance of a playoff spot.

At any rate, Jackson was taking to the mound for the sixth time as a Pirate, making his third start with the club. Honestly, you could argue that his start prior to this game warranted the Game Of His Life title. It saw him go six innings and hold the Chicago Cubs to two earned runs.

But I hope you’ll see why I gave this game the edge.

The Game

Jackson and the Pirates were facing Angel Zerpa, a lefty who was making an unusual start, mostly pitching out of the bullpen that season.

Before Jackson even stepped on the mound, his Bucco teammates helped deliver him a little bit of a cushion to work with. Bryan Reynolds sent one deep to left field in the top of the first to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead, and while his solo shot was impressive, Jackson stole the show in the bottom half of the inning.

Working with Pirates catcher Endy Rodriguez and facing the top of Kansas City’s lineup, Jackson struck out the side in order. That early work included recording punch outs against Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr, two up-and-coming offensive stars at the time who would blossom into pivotal pieces of the Royals offense.

All three strikeouts in the first were swinging, and all were in the strike zone, where Jackson dared his opposition to hit it.

In the top of the second, the Pirates provided Jackson with some more offense. Liover Peguero, Vinny Capra, and Jack Suwinski (just the trio you expected to see!) combined for three straight hits to tack on two more runs for the Pirates.

Peguero kicked it off with a double into the left-center gap, and was brought home by a Capra double down the third base line, the first extra-base hit of his career. A Suwinski single that just got by the left side of the second baseman then scored Capra, putting Pittsburgh up 3-0.

Jackson was still determined to keep all eyes on him, however. When he took to the mound again in the bottom of the second, he struck out the first two he saw, extending his streak to five to open the game.

His five straight strikeouts to open the game made him the first Pirates hurler to do that since Bruce Kison back on June 28th, 1979, when he did it against the Montreal Expos.

His fourth K came at the expense of Nelson Velázquez to start the second, and Matt Beaty marked Jackson’s first strikeout looking of the day.

Jackson’s streak finally came to an end when Freddy Fermin drew a walk on a full count to give the Royals their first baserunner. However, on the next at-bat, Kansas City’s Dairon Blanco hit a week grounder, with a forceout at second base.

In the third, Jackson racked up another pair of strikeouts, turning away Samad Taylor and Garcia for a second time. Both punchouts were swinging, and both were placed in nearly identical spots, perfectly painted up and in on the top inside corner, tying up the righties.

Jackson was cruising through three, and even as Pittsburgh’s early barrage had stopped, the game seemed well in control. Only in the fourth did Jackson make his first (and only) true mistake of this game.

Facing Witt for a second time, the shortstop got a hold of one and sent it deep into left field, over the head of Reynolds and putting the Royals on the board at 3-1.

Jackson’s pitches were sent fairly far during the rest of the inning, but his fielders were able to pick him up. A lineout to deep right field and a flyout in deep center were followed by a popup at second to end the inning, puttinhg a lid on Kansas City’s chances.

Zerpa, meanwhile, had faced the minimum for the second time in a row, putting Jackson back on the mound quickly. Despite allowing a leadoff single Fermin, the Pirates secured a double play and a lineout to center to end the inning.

That single was the final hit Jackson would allow in this contest, and the fifth inning was his final full frame on the mound.

He went back out for the sixth, where he fielded a groundball sent back to him to open the inning before issuing a walk to Garcia. Witt would then send a flyball deep to center field, and that would mark the final out for Jackson’s game. At 86 pitches, manager Derek Shelton made a call to the bullpen, bringing in the lefty Ryan Borucki to finish the sixth.

Facing another left-hander in MJ Melendez, Borucki earned a strikeout for the final out of the sixth, taking Jackson off the hook for that free pass earlier in the frame.

Facing Kansas City’s bullpen, Suwinski launched a solo homer to push the Pirate lead to three, and Pittsburgh’s bullpen did a fantasic job of locking down the win for Jackson. Thomas Hatch and Colin Holderman both pitched clean innings, and closer David Bednar stranded a leadoff triple to give the Pirates a 4-1 win.

Jackson’s day ended with only two hits and one earned run against. It was his best start of the season, one that lowered his season ERA to 4.46 and 2.92 ERA in Pittsburgh. His seven strikeouts in this contest marked a new career high for Jackson.

“My plan was to go after guys,” Jackson said postgame. “Once I got to two strikes, I was able to put them away.”

Though his start was undoubtedly impressive, the Pirates brass was perhaps even more amazed by his versatility.

“He’s really run with it,” manager Shelton said on Jackson. “He’s been aggressive. He’s pitched in different roles. He’s taken the ball, and he’s gone right after people.”

The Aftermath

Unfortunately for Jackson, the rest of his work as a Pirate wouldn’t go as smoothly. His role continued to shift as Pittsburgh’s rotation dealt with injuries and the team shifted arms around to cover innings where needed.

Though opponents still hit a low .194 against him, he was unlucky in the earned run department. He posted a 6.16 ERA (13 earned runs in 19 innings) for the rest of the year, walking 12, striking out 14, and allowing three home runs. He was dinged for losses in each of his next two starts following this game.

His best work after this game was Pittsburgh’s season finale, where he made his last start in the major leagues and tossed four innings at home, holding Miami to one hit and one walk.

After 2023 with the Pirates, Jackson left the US and signed in Japan, carving himself out a steady career in the Nippon league, where’s he played pretty well. Last season, he put up a 2.90 ERA and 1.119 WHIP over 143 innings, with 121 strikeouts.

This season, Jackson has a 2.09 ERA and 1.141 WHIP in 99 innings, with 76 punchouts.