Andrew Painter wasn’t going to throw a no-hitter Monday against St. Louis; his pitch count was going to make sure of that. For 5.1 innings though he kept the Cardinals bats from doing any damage and had allowed just two baserunners on walks. In the sixth, a one-out walk to JJ Wetherholt was followed by a double from Ivan Herrera and a two-run single by Alec Burleson to officially end the rookie right-hander’s outing at 93 pitches, 53 of which were strikes – 57-percent.
Painter struck out six hitters, just two off of his career-high of eight that he set in his first career start on March 31. The outing also led him to his second win in the majors, with his first also coming in that debut game against the Nationals.
“It’s three in a row that he’s thrown the ball well since he came back [from the Minors], so that’s obviously a positive for us,” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “That was something that the team needed right there, and for him to come through in that spot is really good for him and good for our club.”
A change in approach
Prior to his Tommy John surgery, Painter lived on his fastball. Many of his struggles since then have been because of the pitch that he still has trouble locating and tops out at around 96 mph in velocity during most outings. When Painter was sent to Triple-A earlier in the season naturally, working on his fastball was part of the agenda – a big part. But so too was his mental approach to facing hitters and his change-up.
Painter and Lehigh Valley pitching coach Phil Cundari worked on varying Painter’s grip on the changeup, searching for something that would make the pitch more effective. At times, the pursuit of an improved change-up seemed almost desperate with Painter admitting to using three different grips in four starts.
“With the change-up split,” Painter said, “that’s been a big one for me in the past. But we’re trying to figure some things out with that. Third change-up grip in four starts. I mean, just trying to find something there. Didn’t have any feel for the change-up. We’re spraying it all over, so kind of eliminated that from the arsenal.”
That was after Painter’s third start back with Lehigh Valley, which was one of his worst. In just 2.2 innings Painter was bombed for seven earned runs on eight hits and four walks. He needed 70 pitches to work through 19 batters and threw just 38 strikes. That was on July 10, exactly one month before his latest outing with the Phillies.
With the change-up now working, Painter went to that pitch more than the fastball – 29 change-ups to 26 fastballs – in his latest outing. The fastball was still sub-par compared to where it was prior to the TJS surgery, but the presence of the change-up kept hitters guessing and made the fastball more effective to batters. Painter’s mix of the change-up increased dramatically from around 4-percent of his pitches to 32-percent of his pitches against the Cardinals. Meanwhile, his reliance on the fastball dipped from around 32-percent to 28-percent in St. Louis.
Going forward
Now, the game of adjustments begins. Hitters will occasionally look to sit on the change-up more and it will be up to Painter to readjust or to show that he now has a strong enough change-up that he can use it as the marquee. Leading with a change-up is not the norm for starting pitchers, but it can be done. Just ask Cristopher Sanchez who throws a change-up 35-percent of the time since he has started to be a breakout pitcher for the Phillies.
If Painter is able to find a little more velocity on the fastball and get more movement on the pitch, the combination of the two pitches will be huge for the 23-year-old.
Painter’s improved mental approach – basically focusing on the hitter he is facing and not worrying about what may have happened against previous hitters – will also help his development.
The game
The club has been battling with an overused and largely ineffective bullpen. Alan Rangel, who was with the club to help eat some innings, gave up three earned runs but did throw 2.2 innings for the team. Jonathan Bowlan threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his first career save.
The offense, which has also been inconsistent put up a run in the seventh and two in the eighth to offset Rangel’s issues and preserve the lead to get Painter (2-8, 6.27) the win in a 6-5 game. Kyle Schwarber and Edmundo Sosa both had two hits with Sosa driving in three runs for the Phillies.
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