Second-half strikes from Lee Hendrie and Vincent Pericard cancelled out Dwight Yorke's opener and left the Black Cats with only one win from their last five outings.
In the opening exchanges, Stoke were showing the form that earned them four goals at Leeds, while Sunderland still looked shaken after leaking four in their weekend exploits.
Pericard should have made the most of the jitters but spurned three gilt-edged chances in the opening nine minutes.
The best of the early chances arrived with only seven minutes gone, but after shrugging off Nyron Nosworthy's escort, the striker steered wide.
After their rocky start, the Wearsiders gained some composure and with it some possession and in the 28th minute they also got a reward.
Yorke, making his first start, pounced on some calamitous set-piece defending and in typical fashion slammed the ball past the decked Steve Simonsen.
Yorke's first strike in Sunderland colours was almost cancelled out as quickly as it was scored were it not for some last-ditch defending from Stanislav Varga.
Mamady Sidibe had all but broke into celebration after chipping Darren Ward when Varga threw himself into the line of fire to make a spectacular goal-line clearance.
But it wasn't long before City levelled and then took the lead in quick succession.
Hendrie steered in his second goal in four days after latching on to Sidibe's through ball.
And the second oozed with the class of its on-loan Premiership instigators. Hendrie's back-heel was followed by an inch-perfect centre from Andy Griffin which Pericard couldn't help but nod home.
A nervy finale followed but an 89th minute stop from Simonsen off Chris Brown's low drive earned back-to-back wins for the Potters for the first time this season.