BOSTON -- The Phillies have an important balance to strike when it comes to rookie Andrew Painter.
On one hand, this is a team that is fighting just to get back to .500 after a disastrous start to the season.
On the other, Painter is just a 23-year-old pitcher who is still trying to find his footing in the big leagues. He entered Wednesday night's 3-1 loss against the Red Sox with a 6.89 ERA -- and he was 0-4 with a 7.90 ERA in six outings since his March 31 MLB debut.
So when Painter got through five innings of one-run ball at Fenway Park, that was all interim manager Don Mattingly wanted to see this time out -- even with Painter having thrown just 62 pitches (46 strikes).
“We wanted to be proactive tonight with him,” Mattingly said. “ … Get him going, get some confidence, and obviously, he threw the ball really well tonight. Got his command back. I was happy with him, but knowing we need him all year long, just kind of get him building and let him build off a good start.”
There’s no questioning the last part.
Relying more on his breaking pitches -- and less on his troublesome fastball -- Painter allowed just one run (a Trevor Story homer) off four hits while striking out four and walking zero. It was the first time in Painter’s eight career outings that he did not issue a free pass.
So, was he surprised when Mattingly told him in the dugout that his night was over after five innings and the game tied at 1-1?
“I mean, I don't make those decisions,” Painter said. “So my job is to just go out there and pitch until they tell me not to go anymore.”
Of course, this wasn’t only about building confidence for Painter.
There’s also the fact that the Phillies had a fully rested bullpen following Monday’s off-day and Zack Wheeler taking on 7 ⅓ innings in Tuesday’s win. (Not to mention the bad weather in the forecast, putting Thursday night’s series finale in jeopardy.)
Painter understands all of that.
“I totally get it, obviously, with the circumstances -- off-day, [Wheeler] threw deep last night,” Painter said. “So bullpen is fresh, and I know there's a lot of lefties in that top half of their lineup, so we play the matchups there.”
That’s exactly what Mattingly chose to do.
With switch-hitting Mickey Gasper set to lead off and left-handed hitter Wilyer Abreu to follow, the Phillies went to left-hander Tanner Banks. After Banks faced the minimum three batters and recorded two outs around a base hit, Orion Kerkering came on and served up a go-ahead two-run homer to Ceddanne Rafaela that proved to be the difference.
“Thought it was a good spot for Banksy, and we get Kirk in the game at the right spot, too,” Mattingly said. “I felt like [Kerkering] just kind of missed his spot.”
Now, it’s impossible to say whether the game would have played out differently had the Phillies stuck with Painter. After all, the offense mustered only one run -- on Justin Crawford’s second career homer -- on four hits.
But therein lies that all-important balance the Phillies will need to strike. Yes, they want to protect and develop Painter, but they also want to give themselves the best chance to win a ballgame every night.
In other words, this doesn’t mean Painter is now going to be capped at five innings or two times through the order every time out.
“We wanted to build confidence and go from there,” Mattingly said. “I think [if] he does the same type of thing next time out, I think we’ve gotta let him keep fighting through. You obviously want to build him to be kind of like the other guys you're seeing that can go seven [innings] and get us deeper into the game.
“But for now, that was a good start toward that.”
It’s been a long road for Painter just to get to this point. He appeared poised to burst onto the scene after a scintillating Spring Training debut in 2023, only to report to camp the following day with elbow soreness that ultimately resulted in Tommy John surgery.
After two lost seasons in 2023 and ‘24, he entered ‘25 with every expectation that he'd be in the Majors by midsummer. He instead struggled to a 5.26 ERA while spending the entire year in the Minors.
But, even with the rocky start to this season, Painter insists his confidence has never wavered.
“No matter what happens, if you don't go out there with confidence, you're gonna get beat,” Painter said. “So when you're on that mound, you’ve got to have the most confidence in the world, and you have to think that you're able to get that guy out.”