Andrew Painter’s Phillies debut may have come a few years later than originally anticipated, but he made sure it was worth the wait. The 22-year-old right hander tallied 8 strikeouts through 5.1 innings while being charged with one run on four hits and a walk. Painter flashed an impressive arsenal of pitches and poise beyond his years as he acted as a de facto stopper for the Phillies’ three game losing streak. Kyle Schwarber and Adolis Garcia both homered to make sure the rookie’s efforts weren’t
wasted.
Brush of greatness
Painter got his career off to a fast start, picking up his first career strikeout on the first hitter he faced in James Wood with a beautifully executed curveball. That started a clean inning in the first on just 11 pitches, with first pitch strikes thrown to all three batters. His fastball velocity sat around 97-98 MPH in his first inning of work.
Painter started the second allowing a pair of singles to Daylen Lile and Jorbit Vivas, but quickly settled back in to retire the next three hitters in order to escape any damage, needing only 14 pitches total. He began the third with his second strikeout, utilizing another devastating curveball in the dirt to get Nasim Nuñez swinging. After a groundout by Wood, Painter notched his third punchout after a called third strike on a changeup was confirmed against Luis García Jr. This was already the Nats’ second failed challenge, as catcher Keibert Ruiz challenged a ball called to Alec Bohm in the second that was upheld, meaning Washington was already out of challenges by the end of the third inning.
Bohm helped Painter out to begin the fourth with a sliding catch in foul territory near the rail for the first out. But Painter’s defense then failed him on the next batter, as Lile hit a high pop up into shallow center that was not seen by any of Trea Turner, Bryson Stott, or Justin Crawford, allowing the ball to fall in and Lile to advance to second. But the young righty showed poise beyond his years, as Painter struck out the next two hitters to erase the mistake, getting Vivas on a changeup to end an eight pitch at bat and Ruiz on a slider.
Painter collected strikeout number six to begin the fifth with a slider to José Tena before Joey Wiemer worked a walk on five pitches. But once again, Painter was able to settle down and strikeout the next two hitters, getting Nuñez again on a changeup and Wood on a high 97 MPH fastball.
Painter emerged for the sixth and got Garcia Jr. to pop up before allowing a single to Abrams, ending his night. Abrams later came around to score after Painter left, but he finished strong on an impressive debut. He commanded all of his pitches, getting whiffs on his curveball, slider, changeup, and fastball. He did not get rattled when things went wrong and, most notably, got ahead of hitters and held his velocity through 84 pitches while averaging 96.7 MPH.
Just enough
Kyle Schwarber launched his second homer of the season off of the second deck in the third to give his rookie starter an early lead and take some of the edge off of the Phillies offense.
Adolis Garcia added his first homer of the season in the fourth after barely missing one in the second. Garcia has hit the ball hard so far this season but has mostly found gloves. This time he muscled a sinker just over the right field wall for an opposite field home run that gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead.
The Phillies then loaded the bases with one out in the fifth on singles from Justin Crawford and Trea Turner and a walk to Schwarber. That brought Bryce Harper to the plate who hit a bouncing ground ball to first that was mishandled for an error by Nationals’ first baseman García Jr., allowing Harper to be safe at first and Crawford to score from third to push the lead to 3-0. But that was all the Phillies would get, as Bohm then grounded into an inning ending double play on the second pitch he saw.
Preserving the win
Tanner Banks allowed a run in the sixth in relief of Painter when a single by Lile went to the outfield where Garcia came up firing, but the ball skipped past Bohm into the dugout, allowing Abrams to score. Washington added another run off of Banks in the seventh when a ball hit by Wood deflected off of Banks and past Harper for a double, scoring Nuñez who previously singled. But Banks was able to escape further damage and finished 1.2 IP with three hits, one run, and two strikeouts. Brad Keller walked one in the eighth but that was it, while Jhoan Duran allowed an infield single and a stolen base before a sharp line drive was caught near the warning track by Brandon Marsh to seal the win.
Tomorrow’s matchup
The Phillies will go for their first series win of the young season when they send Cristopher Sánchez (1-0, 0.00) to the mound against Cade Cavalli (0-0, 4.91) of the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05.
