Wearing a first baseman’s mitt for the first time in a major league game, Jared Triolo was hoping to break it in with an easy play Monday night against the Washington Nationals.
Instead, the first hit his way took a high bounce with topspin.
Triolo blocked it with his body, picked up the ball in front of him and tossed it to pitcher Andre Jackson to get Travis Blankenhorn for the final out in the bottom of the second inning of a 6-2 loss at PNC Park.
Not bad for a rookie whose natural position is third base.
“I think after the first ground ball, it was like, ‘Well, I’m still fielding ground balls and getting hops,’ ” Triolo said. “Then, being in the right position, working with the guys in the dugout to get me there, it was definitely beneficial.”
Triolo learned before the game that he would be making his first start at first base, though the Pirates had been preparing him for the moment. Triolo played three games there at Triple-A Indianapolis before being recalled on Sept. 6, when designated hitter Andrew McCutchen was placed on the 10-day injured list with a partial tear in his left Achilles.
“They told me I’d for sure get some looks there,” Triolo said, “so I was ready.”
It was Triolo’s third game at a different position in as many days, which is why he keeps four gloves in his locker. He started at second base on Saturday and third base on Sunday at Atlanta before moving across the diamond. Triolo moved to second base in the eighth inning when the Pirates made several position switches.
“It’s just an opportunity to try to continue to get him at-bats, but we want to look at him there,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “The last time he was up, we thought we were going to get him a chance to get over there and didn’t. To say how much he’s going to be over there, he’s not. But I want to make sure he’s over there in case we need to put him in late in the game. … I think there’s a chance you could see him at all four infield positions, short being the last one but definitely the other three, for sure.”
Shelton said the biggest adjustment for Triolo would be wearing a new glove and making reads from the opposite side of the infield. Triolo worked with Pirates bench coach Don Kelly and infield coach Mendy Lopez — both former major league infielders — before the game, so he felt ready when he saw the No. 3 next to his position. By then, Triolo said, his preparation gave him the confidence that he was ready to play first base in a major league game.
“That’s exactly what it is — it’s a mirror image,” Triolo said. “Once you can read the swing the same way as you read it at third base, it definitely helps a lot.”
Triolo showed his confidence with how he handled his first double play chance from first base, when Luis Garcia hit a grounder to first in the third inning. Triolo fielded it, turned and threw to shortstop Alika Williams at second base, but Garcia beat the throw to first when Jackson missed the bag with his foot.
Triolo scored the Pirates’ first run in the third inning, when he led off by hitting a liner off the pitcher’s mound and toward third for a single. Triolo then stole second base, advanced to third on a Ke’Bryan Hayes groundout and scored on a Bryan Reynolds single to center to cut it to 2-1.
Later, Triolo had a pair of unassisted plays on grounders to first by Keibert Ruiz to end the seventh and Blankenhorn to end the eighth. The biggest challenge for Triolo was to not follow the ball on hits to shortstop and third but instead cover the bag. That was the opposite of his instincts from playing third base, where he won a Rawlings minor league Gold Glove and was a two-time winner of the Bill Mazeroski Award as the Pirates’ top minor league defender.
“He did a nice job,” Shelton said. “Made a pick on the one ball, the one double play we didn’t turn, and had three or four other plays. He had a tricky hop in the first and he didn’t blink on it, so overall, I think he did a nice job over there.”
