Phillies' Don Mattingly builds Andrew Painter's 'confidence' vs. Red Sox originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped what could be the last game they play with the Boston Red Sox this season, as Thursday's game could be rained out. The Phillies lost another tight game, 3-1, with starter, right-hander Andrew Painter, pitching a little better this time through.
Painter tossed five innings of one-run baseball, while striking out four and hitting one batter on 62 pitches (46 strikes). This was a better start than his previous one against the Athletics, where he allowed eight earned runs in 3.2 innings.
Painter did his job against the Red Sox despite the loss, which interim manager Don Mattingly appreciated.
Don Mattingly decided to remove Andrew Painter from the Philadelphia Phillies loss to "protect" him
Coming off the worst start of his big-league career, Mattingly didn't want to push his luck by sending his 23-year-old out for another inning, with the heart of the Red Sox order coming up.
“Yeah, we wanted to be proactive tonight with him [Painter],” Mattingly said after the game. “We knew from the beginning of the game that third time through, it was going to be a spot we were going to try to stay away from, get him going, get some confidence, and obviously threw the ball really well tonight.”
Mattingly added, “He [Painter] did what he did. He did what we wanted. If he goes out there and keeps us in the game and gives us five every time out, we're going to be happy. Obviously, we think he's going to be better than that, but if he's doing that at the back end of our rotation, and then we're going to be in a pretty good spot."
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Painter looking better in this start is a good sign that adjustments are being made to remain in the big leagues. Another rough start would've prompted discussion about optioning Painter to Triple-A Leigh Valley to get a "reset."
Having no walks, despite the one hit batter, is also a good sign that Painter is staying more in the strike zone. In his previous two starts (8.2 innings), Painter had six walks.
The offense could've done more to score runs for Painter, but it looks like he fixed the "delivery stuff" that affected him last time out. Having his confidence built, Painter has a lot to build off of in his next start, which should come against the Cincinnati Reds on May 18.
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