Andrew Painter Creates his Rookie Season Masterpiece in Game 2: ‘He’s Gonna be a Good One’

Andrew Painter has dealt with an up-and-down rookie season. He was basically gifted the fifth starter spot back in March, struggled mightily to begin his career, was sent down to the minors, reworked his stuff, came back in August, was solid, and in an elimination game, came out of a depleted bullpen in his first-ever relief appearance to help extend the Phillies’ season at least a day longer.

It is clear as day that the Phillies’ No. 1 issue is the bullpen. Outside of Jhoan Duran, who was unavailable after throwing 27 pitches in Game 1, the bullpen’s trust was slim. So, interim manager Don Mattingly gave the ball in a 3-3 ballgame in the eighth inning to a rookie who spent a chunk of the season reworking his stuff down in Triple-A.

“There’s not much going on in [my] head there,” Painter said postgame. “I was just trying to be super aggressive and go down with my best stuff.”

Painter struggled out of the gate, throwing six consecutive balls to start his appearance, walking the lead-off batter Austin Riley. Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham came out to give him some reprieve, and once Cotham exited, Painter was on the attack and dominated.

“That’s a really big task for his first postseason appearance to be coming out of the bullpen,” Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s a tall task, and he embraced it head on and went out there and did his job.”

Painter locked it in. His zip was back, and he began pounding the strike zone, forcing Michael Harris II to ground into a double play, and got out of the eighth with a Sean Murphy foul pop-up.

Painter was locating his pitches well; his fastball-changeup combo was electric, keeping the Braves off balance, and even when they were fighting and threw those six straight balls, he stayed calm and continued working towards success. Painter finished with three shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk, while striking out three on 37 pitches, 25 for strikes, and most importantly, the win, ending with an ABS challenge, the first to ever end a playoff game.

“I think once I got that first strike in there I was able to kind of ease in and it gave me a little peace of mind,” Painter said.

His maturity and calmness were the most important part of his success Wednesday. He has had success at every level, in high school, in the low minors; it was not until he got injured and made his debut that he had to actually deal with adversity and struggle. At the beginning of the year, he struggled to handle that pressure. The Phillies could have traded him at the deadline for starting pitching depth, or even in previous years. They held onto him for moments like this.

“He’s crossed a lot of hurdles,” Mattingly said. “He’s kinda shown that he’s gonna be a good one.”

Painter was given a responsibility few rookies in baseball history have been given. In an elimination game, getting the ball to keep to his team in it and force an all-or-nothing Game 3. 23-year-old Andrew Painter showed that he can get the job done. We may see him again on Thursday.

“Yeah, everything on the line,” Painter said. “[Jesus] Luzardo would make fun of me if I [wasn’t available for Game 3]. I’m 23, he’d say I should be good every day.”

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