LOS ANGELES -- Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto exited Sunday afternoon's series finale against the Dodgers one inning after taking a 97 mph fastball off his left wrist in the top of the third.
The club announced that Realmuto departed with a left wrist contusion. He was undergoing further evaluation.
Realmuto stayed in the game initially, running the bases before taking his spot behind the plate to catch Andrew Painter in the bottom of the third inning. Realmuto, though, was replaced by Rafael Marchán in the bottom of the fourth.
Painter didn't last much longer, recording only one out with Marchán behind the dish -- though his exit was not injury-related. The 22-year-old right-hander gave up two homers in the fourth -- one apiece to Ryan Ward and Alex Freeland -- before interim manager Don Mattingly turned things over to the bullpen with the Phillies trailing 4-0.
Painter allowed four runs off seven hits and one walk while striking out three over just 3 1/3 innings. It was the shortest outing of his brief 11-game big league career.
Though he struggled to a 6.89 ERA over his first seven starts, Painter had seemed to settle in of late. He entered Sunday's outing with a 2.60 ERA in his past three starts, all of which came with Realmuto behind the plate.
That pairing has been intentional. Painter came in with a 3.69 ERA in six games throwing to Realmuto. He had an 8.35 ERA in his other four starts (three with Marchán and one with Garrett Stubbs).
Realmuto has been the most durable catcher in the Majors over the past decade, especially since joining the Phillies prior to the 2019 season. He's caught 7,031 2/3 innings during that span. Dodgers catcher Will Smith is second at 5,883 1/3 innings, meaning no other player is within even a thousand innings of Realmuto.
That's why Mattingly said earlier this month that he wanted to be more deliberate about getting Realmuto rest this season.
Yet with the Phillies having an off-day both before and after their series in L.A., the three-time All-Star started all three games against the Dodgers. Even before Sunday's hit-by-pitch, it had been a tough weekend for Realmuto, who on Saturday took a foul ball off the mask in the second inning and was clipped by Shohei Ohtani's backswing in the seventh.