PITTSBURGH -- Jared Triolo came up the ranks in the Pirates’ system as a third baseman. A very, very good third baseman. He won the 2021 Minor League Gold Glove Award at third base -- only one is awarded per position across all the affiliated levels -- and he was a two-time Bill Mazeroski Defender of the Year, which is awarded by the Bucs.

The only roadblock in his path to playing third base in the Majors? Ke’Bryan Hayes, the defensive wizard at the hot corner who is poised to earn his first Major League Gold Glove Award this year and who signed an eight-year extension in 2022.

It’s a good problem to have for Pittsburgh, but it leads to new defensive strategies, which the Pirates showed in a 6-2 loss to the Nationals on Monday night at PNC Park. Triolo played first base for the first time in his MLB career and looked fairly solid while doing it.

Triolo was tested early, with a funky hop off the bat of Travis Blankenhorn in the second inning. Triolo made a wing with his glove hand to deflect the shot off his left shoulder, almost like a hockey goalie stopping a shot to the top corner, and collected the hop calmly.

From that test onward, Triolo had all the confidence he needed to cruise through his seven innings at first base before moving to second in the eighth.

“I think after the first ground ball, it was like, ‘Well, I’m still fielding ground balls and getting hops,’” Triolo said.

“He did a nice job,” manager Derek Shelton said. “He made a pick on the one ball on the one double play we didn’t turn, and had three or four other plays. He got a tricky hop in the [second], and he didn’t blink on it. So overall I thought he did a nice job.”

In fact, the trickiest part of the night in Triolo’s words had nothing to do with getting the glove on the ball. It was about learning to look away.

“Not following the ball,” Triolo said of the toughest aspect of playing first. “Some balls get hit to short or to third, you’ve got to go the other way of the ball.”

Triolo has had some time at first in the Minors (three games) and in Spring Training. But he’s seen most of his work there during pregame fielding practice, with input from coaches like bench coach Don Kelly and Major League coach Mendy López, who he credited after Monday’s game with getting him comfortable with the position.

But he’s also just plain good with the glove.

“[Triolo] is a really good defender,” Shelton said. “[First base] is on the [other] side, and reading the ball off the bat is going to be different. But the biggest thing for guys that play other positions in terms of the infield is having the first-base glove on.”

That glove is one of four that Triolo carries with him, though the third-base glove is still his most used. He feels he’s growing at the position, too, and he said he’s learning from watching Hayes, who with 20 defensive runs saved entering Monday and only one fielding error in 2023 is likely the favorite to take home his first Gold Glove Award.

Triolo got a front-row seat on Monday to one of the many highlights Hayes has accumulated this season, with a snowcone catch on a dive in the eighth.

“This guy is so good and so elite there,” Shelton said of Hayes. “… We get spoiled in Pittsburgh because of the things that he does and we expect him to do.”

As for Triolo, expect him to move around. Shelton said he can foresee Triolo getting a look at all four infield positions, though saying the least amount of time would come at shortstop. And even if it means he isn’t setting up home at his natural position, Triolo is happy to have the trust of the Pirates as they try to get him as many games as possible.

“It’s pretty cool, the thought that they have a lot of confidence in me over there,” Triolo.