MIAMI -- Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter grew up in South Florida, but he had never pitched at loanDepot park.
He got the opportunity on Saturday to pitch in front of family, friends and a few thousand Phillies fans. But Painter struggled with his command in a 4-0 loss to the Marlins, snapping the Phillies’ four-game winning streak under interim manager Don Mattingly. Painter allowed seven hits, three runs and three walks and struck out seven in five innings.
He is 1-3 with a 5.28 ERA in six appearances.
This one felt like some of his other starts, in that he always seemed to be a pitch or two away from getting out of trouble.
“They’ve been close,” Painter said. “Today, I just shot myself in the foot.”
Painter loaded the bases in the second and third innings with one out. He escaped the second, but walked Agustín Ramírez on a 3-2 sinker and Connor Norby on a 3-2 sweeper with two outs in the third to score Miami’s first two runs. It was the first time a Phillies pitcher walked consecutive batters with the bases loaded since Jesús Luzardo in the fifth inning against Boston on July 23.
“I think it's hard to go out there and be in a situation twice and expect to get out of it both times,” Painter said. “I felt like everything was a little sped up. A little pull-y. All the misses were consistently glove side. So we'll go and look back at that. I think it was pretty up-tempo, pretty quick. I think in that situation, just got to slow down a little bit and think through the glove, instead just pulling off, getting rotational.”
Painter fell into several three-ball counts in the first three innings. Still, he generated mostly weak contact until Xavier Edwards hit a solo home run in the fifth.
“His fastball cuts a bit,” Edwards said. “We knew that going into it, obviously, but different when you finally see it. ... The split was good. Honestly, I don't think we talked enough about the splitter. Split was a really good pitch. I thought he used it well. He got a good amount of swing and miss on it, at least from my vantage point.
“We know a lot of his pitches, obviously, cut, slider, sweeper, curveball, they all kind of come in to lefties away to righties. I thought we were just trying to be stingy, try to get to the bullpen as early as we could, and I think we got his pitch count up. We put some runs on the board and made it hard for him.”
Saturday was a matchup between former first-round picks. The Phillies selected Painter with the 13th overall pick in the 2021 Draft. The Marlins selected Max Meyer with the third overall pick in the 2020 Draft.
Meyer dominated as the Phillies were one-hit for the first time since April 18, 2023.
He allowed one hit and one walk and struck out seven in seven scoreless innings. Garrett Stubbs got the only hit with a one-out single to right in the third inning. Stubbs started in left field because Brandon Marsh was nursing a bruised right elbow and Justin Crawford couldn’t play because of a migraine.
"He's competitive,” said Mattingly, who managed the Marlins when the organization selected Meyer. “You know, a guy with good stuff and competitive is a pretty good combo, right?”
Meyer struck out Kyle Schwarber in each of his three plate appearances against him. Schwarber has struck out in eight consecutive plate appearances, dating back to Friday’s series opener against the Marlins. They are the most consecutive strikeouts by a Phillies position player (non-pitcher) in the Expansion Era (since 1961).
Dylan Cozens struck out in nine consecutive plate appearances from July 1 to Sept. 12 of 2018.
Tied for third behind Cozens and Schwarber with seven consecutive strikeouts are:
- J.T. Realmuto (July 20-23, 2019)
- Pedro Florimón (Sept. 2-18, 2018)
- Mitch Walding (May 30-June 20, 2018)
- Odúbel Herrera (May 24-25, 2017)
- John Russell (May 14-23, 1986)
- Larry Hisle (May 6-8, 1969)
“Maybe he’s not seeing the ball good here,” Mattingly said. “He comes out of that doubleheader in Philly [on Thursday] kind of on fire, and they’ve just kind of neutralized him here. He doesn't seem to be seeing the ball great, but not a guy that you really worry about unless it gets extended.”