PHILADELPHIA — After Tanner Banks nearly frittered away starter Andrew Painter’s dazzling major-league debut in the sixth and seventh innings, Brad Keller and Jhoan Duran entered in the final two frames to lock down the rookie’s inaugural win in the bigs.

With a 3-0 lead, Banks surrendered an inherited run and later a run of his own before the Phillies went on to a 3-2 victory over Washington Tuesday night.

The unflappable Painter allowed just four hits while striking out eight over 5 1/3, leaving the mound to his third and loudest standing ovation of the night when manager Rob Thomson made a call to the pen.

“It was awesome,” said Painter, a lean, 6-foot-7 right-hander with a boy-next-door face. “Crowd showed up tonight. I just kind of soaked all of it in. I don’t think I could have drawn it up much better.”

As spectacular as 22-year-old Painter’s performance was, the effective combo of Keller and Duran was another positive that shouldn’t be overlooked.

“We didn’t have (Jose) Alvarado tonight because of the pitch count last night, but those guys are power guys, they throw strikes,” Thomson said. “Keller had the one walk and he was a little upset about it, but those guys throw strikes and they get both sides out. It’s a good combination.”

Ideally, the Phillies would like Alvarado to handle the seventh inning, Keller the eighth and Duran to close out the ninth. (Keller and Alvarado could occasionally swap.)

No more bullpen by committee. The plan goes back to the days of more defined bullpen roles, with setup men and a dominant closer who could shorten a game from nine innings to six if their team had the lead.

That formula helped the Phillies win the World Series in 2008, when they had J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge. It helped propel the late-1990s Yankees with Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson and Mariano Rivera. The list of examples goes on.

Now, it allows a guy like Orion Kerkering (once he’s healthy) to be a middle-inning fireman. That was Banks’ role Tuesday.

Since the explosion of analytics, the classic seventh-eighth-ninth inning ladder has largely taken a back seat to managers playing matchups and using their would-be closers earlier in games. However, the pendulum may be swinging back.

“When you have a true closer like Duran, that’s the way you should set it up,” Thomson told The Athletic’s Matt Gelb in spring training. “And especially when we have the type of arms that we have. But if you give a guy a fifth- or sixth-inning role, and the seventh- and eighth-inning guys aren’t available, well they’re going to have to pitch in the seventh inning.”

Seems reasonable.

Before even getting to Banks, Thomson handled Painter just right in his debut by not hanging with him too long. He could have sat him down after 77 pitches over five stellar frames to be sure to keep his confidence intact. Instead, he did one better. He sent him back out for the sixth, let him get an out, and then pulled him when C.J. Abrams singled — allowing Painter to bask in the appreciation of an electric crowd at Citizens Bank Park as he departed.

As Painter handed the ball over, Thomson patted him on the chest and asked him if he had enjoyed his outing.

“He shook his head no,” Thomson said. “And then he figured out what I said and shook his head yes.”

Thomson reminded him to tip his cap to the fans when he walked off.

“He told me to do that,” Painter said. “I almost forgot, but I did it.”

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Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X and Threads at @the_defranc.