04/28/26 Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski / Curve's Jared Triolo watches the ball go foul.

For the first time in four years after Thursday’s game, Jared Triolo had just played a game for the Altoona Curve that started at 11 a.m.

The morning first pitch is common in the minor leagues before school lets out for the summer, as it’s popular for students to take in a baseball game for field trips.

It was a game that was a perfect example of what a minor league career can be in a nutshell. An early start time turned into an 11-inning game, and it lasted for more than four hours.

Luckily for Triolo, it was a minor league career that only lasted about four years when he was called up to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2023, although he did have a cup of coffee in Indianapolis last year when he was optioned.

Triolo, who was a member of the 2022 team, is expected to be in Altoona through the weekend as he’s on a rehab assignment for the Curve at Peoples Natural Gas Field.

Triolo reflected on his time with the Curve four years ago, and noticed some of the renovations that the clubhouse and surrounding areas underwent in 2023. There is a new women’s locker room, a new visiting coaches locker room, a new weight room, a video room, meeting rooms, kitchen areas and bigger training rooms.

“There were a lot of good teammates from that year,” Triolo said. “The facilities here are a lot nicer than when I was here, but it’s the same atmosphere and it’s a good time.”

The 2022 team also featured current Pirates in former No. 1 overall pick Henry Davis, Nick Gonzales and Carmen Mlodzinski. Several others are in the big leagues elsewhere. Endy Rodriguez is also still in the Pirates’ system in AAA Indianapolis.

Triolo is rehabbing a right patellar tendon injury that was suffered during the Pirates’ home opener on April 3. Through six games, he was hitting .217 in 23 at-bats before the injury.

Triolo opened his rehab assignment with two games in Class A Bradenton last weekend and spent a day in Pittsburgh with the big club on Monday before reporting to Altoona on Tuesday. He homered on Tuesday as part of a three-hit day, but the results are secondary when it comes to rehab assignments.

“You just have to get your feet back under you and get confident in your body and the things that have been hurting,” Triolo said. “You have to get ready to come up and produce whenever you’re done.”

Altoona started off the season in one of the most miserable ways possible at 0-12 before finally getting a win. Ever since then, the team has been playing better baseball, winning six of their last 10 going into Friday.

“There’s some good players on this team,” Triolo said. “A handful of them I’ve played with in spring training games. It’s good to see them and play with them.”

Triolo was primarily a third baseman when coming up through the minor leagues but started to play multiple positions when he got to Pittsburgh. The Pirates believed in his glove work, and it resulted in him being awarded with a Gold Glove as a utilityman in 2024.

While there may be some panic going around Pirates fans after the latest five-game skid heading into Friday, Triolo asked fans to stick with them.

Pittsburgh sat at .500 (16-16) heading into this weekend’s series with the Reds.

“It’s a long season,” Triolo said. “There’s going to be ups and downs. We were grooving there for a minute. Hopefully, we can get back to that soon.”