White Sox Ride Four-Run First Inning to Top Philllies as Andrew Painter’s Struggles Continue
Jun 6, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
It may be time to have some uncomfortable conversations about Andrew Painter.
Heading into the 2026 season, the Phillies’ starting rotation was already one of the best in baseball, and they were gearing up to add their former top prospect, Painter, to that very rotation. Painter, who has missed the last few seasons due to Tommy John surgery, was formerly at one point a top prospect in the entire MLB.
While he hasn’t been terrible this season, holding 0.2 WAR with 43 strikeouts over 53.1 innings pitched coming into Saturday’s contest, he unfortunately has not been good either this year. Painter has allowed at least four hits in all but one game this year, and has allowed multiple runs in eight of his 11 games.
Saturday’s start against the Chicago White Sox wasn’t any better, as the Phillies were defeated 6-3 in the second game of their series. The rookie allowed six earned runs in just 4.2 innings of work, marking the fifth time this season that Painter had allowed five runs in a start this season, and his season ERA to 6.21, the second highest mark of the year.
The Phillies’ starting pitching depth is very slim following the release of Taijuan Walker last month, but it may be time to send Painter down to Triple-A for the time being to work on some of his issues.
The White Sox came out hunting right away against Painter, after getting two early runners on from a hit by pitch and a walk, as Andrew Benintendi got the scoring going with an RBI single to left. After another walk to load the bases, back-to-back groundouts from Chase Meidroth and Jacob Gonzalez scored two more runs, and a double from Tristan Peters added another run, making it 4-0 Chicago in the first.
Despite getting runners aboard in both the first and the second innings, the Phillies failed to answer the four-spot put on them in the first inning.
The long ball has been an issue as of late as well for Painter, and in the fourth inning, the White Sox made him pay. Colson Montgomery, who walked and came around and scored in the first inning, smoked a 1-0 high heater to right field, extending Chicago’s lead to five. Two batters later, another bomb was smoked into the right field seats, this time off the bat of Gonzalez for his first career major league home run.
After three innings of no runs from the Phillies, Alec Bohm quickly changed that with a line-drive solo home run to left field, getting Philadelphia on the board.
One run was all the Phillies could muster in the fourth as Sean Burke needed just eight pitches following the Bohm homer to get out of the fourth. Despite being in the high 80’s for a pitch count, Painter surprisingly went back out for the top of the fifth. While he was able to get two quick outs to start the inning, Painter was unable to make it out of the fifth after allowing a single to Chase Meidroth and a double from Tristan Peters, putting two runners in scoring position.
Painter’s day ended at just 4.2 innings of work, allowing six runs on eight hits, striking out four. Tanner Banks came on in relief and got out of the jam. Both teams failed to score in their next at-bats, but in the bottom of the sixth, the Philies one again got some movement going to cut their deficit.
After two quick outs, Brandon Marsh smoked a solo home run to center field, making it a 6-2 game. After back-to-back walks from J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott, Adolis Garcia kept his hitting streak going with an RBI single to right, making it a three-run game.
Sean Newcomb came on in for Burke to pick up the final out of the sixth inning, getting Edmundo Sosa, who was pinch-hitting, to strike out. Both teams went scoreless once again in the seventh and eighth innings, with both bullpens shutting down the opposition’s offense.
With just three outs to go, the White Sox called on Grant Taylor to pick up the save and even the weekend series at one game apiece. Taylor made short work of the Phillies, striking out the side on just 14 pitches, picking up the 6-3 win over the Phillies.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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