PHILADELPHIA — When the photos of Sunday’s starting pitchers came across the scoreboard pregame at Citizens Bank Park, Andrew Painter was not pictured. Instead, Zach Pop’s headshot was displayed.
The Phillies relayed a message shortly after: Painter had been scratched from his third career start with a migraine. Ten minutes later, he walked through right field to the bullpen. That was about when Painter, who has a history of migraines, began to feel somewhat better after taking medicine that morning. He said he felt 100 percent by the third inning, ultimately taking the mound and pitching five innings of one-run baseball against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I didn’t know the extent of how long I was going to be able to go out, how good I was feeling,” Painter said. “But I wanted to go out there and at least get a couple innings to take that off the bullpen.”
He managed more than that, striking out seven and throwing 80 pitches over five innings. It was an excellent turnaround after a difficult second outing, coming on a day when little went to plan for the Phillies in a 4-3 loss.
Painter threw up and felt pressure in his head in the morning, leaving Pop to pitch the first two innings. Catcher J.T. Realmuto, who was slated to play, took the day off after a foul ball to the right foot the night before. The bullpen gave up two runs in the eighth to erase a two-run lead. And poor judgment on the basepaths was especially costly.
First there was Bryce Harper trying to stretch a single rolling into right center into a double in the fourth. “Most balls I hit in that spot,” Harper said, “I try to get (to second).” The throw reached second base about one second before Harper did. He was out.
The Phillies had runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth and eighth, and failed to score both times.
In the sixth, Harper was thrown out between third and home on an infield grounder. The ball was quickly sent home and then to the third baseman to tag out Harper. Breaking for home was the right move, manager Rob Thomson felt, because there might have been a double play at first and second otherwise.
The most egregious example came when the Phillies were down by one with runners on the corners in the eighth, with Adolis García batting in a 3-1 count.
Brandon Marsh, who intended to steal second, seemingly did not look home after the pitch was thrown. He was charging toward the base, head down, and seemed to realize the ball was quickly dropping behind him just as he touched second. By then it was too late for him to make up ground and return to first. What might have just been a popup turned into an inning-ending double play when Marsh was thrown out at first.
Marsh left the clubhouse before reporters entered after the game.
“Just bad baseball,” Harper said.“Had an opportunity right there, and didn’t do the things we needed to do to come through in that situation.”
Said Thomson: “On your third step, you should peek. I haven’t looked at the tape, but he lost the ball. Three-one count, they were giving us second base and we were also in double-play depth. So, the ball’s on the ground, we score and tie the game.”
Andrew Painter didn’t pitch until the third because of migraines, but held the Diamondbacks to one run over five innings. (Hunter Martin / Getty Images)
The starting pitching has been somewhat up-and-down to start the season. But, in a game where Painter delivered despite illness hours earlier, the Phillies’ offense maintained its trend of scoring in just a handful of innings. All three runs and five of their 10 hits came in the sixth. They entered Sunday with the fifth-fewest runs scored of any team this season (50). In their last 46 innings, they have scored in only three.
And the Phillies went 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position Sunday, remaining one of the worst teams in the majors in this category. Entering Sunday, they were slashing .209/.321/.382 in 131 plate appearances with RISP. It’s even worse with two outs and RISP: .161/.288/.232.
“I feel like the traffic, at least today, was out there,” Trea Turner said. “We had some guys on base, and just need to be more consistent, have a little bit better at-bats, more team at-bats, moving guys around. Not that we’re not trying.”
The ingredients are there. Fifteen games in, the Phillies are still figuring out how to put it all together.