Friday night might have been the biggest start in young Andrew Painter‘s career. Had he failed, the question marks about his future would have multiplied dramatically. While the early returns were rocky, Painter battled back and gave the Phillies six strong innings. He left the game in position to get his second major league win, but the bullpen did its usual routine of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and the Phillies lost their fourth straight and have now lost eight of their last nine games.
Here we go again? No
You have to love social media. After giving up a leadoff double to Dylan Beavers followed by a two-run home run to Pete Alonso, the critics were digging the grave a little deeper for Painter’s career. Two batters does not make a game. What those naysayers forgot was that this is a 23-year-old guy making a potentially career-changing start and some nerves were to be expected. Trust the prospect.
After the home run, Painter retired six of the next seven hitters, got into – and worked out of – trouble in the third and started a stretch of retiring 10 straight hitters. The result was a strong outing that made those early doom and gloomers look pretty silly.
Why this went perfectly
Among command issues in his prior starts, one of Painter’s issues was letting things snowball into oblivion. The fact that he bounced back, and bounced back quickly, from the early issues was a great sign. The fact that he put two runners in scoring position in the third and worked out of it was another great sign.
Those are the mental things that Painter worked on at Lehigh Valley in addition to his mechanics. This version of Andrew Painter is much tougher mentally than the version that went 1-8 with a 7.06 ERA in his first 14 MLB starts.
It’s those things that the Phillies were looking for Painter to improve on, perhaps even more importantly than the physical things. At Lehigh Valley, Painter discovered what it takes to be a major league pitcher from the mental side and that allowed him to find the things he was doing wrong mechanically and pitch-wise.
RELATED: What Andrew Painter Learned at Lehigh Valley
What’s next
Painter certainly pitched well enough to earn another start for the Phillies. With all of the pieces that the Phillies need at the trade deadline, his outing could push the Phillies toward looking more for a big bat that can hit lefties and certainly, bullpen help; and plenty of it.
The next start for Painter would be Wednesday at home against the Washington Nationals.
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