Andrew Painter struggled in his latest start. (Cheryl Pursell)
Mick Abel wasn't the only young Phillies pitcher to start last night. Andrew Painter made his sixth start for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs and, well, it was the worst start of his minor league career.
Painter lasted five innings, but gave up six runs on eight hits - two homers - while striking out four in what was an 8-1 loss for the IronPigs, their fourth straight.
It was the second straight rough outing for Painter, who allowed four runs on six hits - including two homers - and four walks last week in Charlotte.
While the Phillies are managing his innings, Painter has seen his Triple-A ERA balloon to 5.19 in 26 innings thanks to those outings.
"When guys struggle, usually it's either stuff or command," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "Last night, it was command, because the stuff was good. His velocity was real good, the spin was real good, and the strike percentage was real good. He had a lot of pitches in the middle of the plate.
And the Worcester Woo Sox, the affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, did damage.
Defensive miscues cost Andrew Painter his first two runs, but this is just a cement mixer sitting in the middle of the plate that gets pummeled for a 2-run homer … Third homer allowed in Painter’s last two starts pic.twitter.com/G2pEkLWtEM
Another hanger in the middle of the plate from Andrew Painter gets taken deep pic.twitter.com/jNpLbiYSE0
The Phillies actually welcome this blip on the radar for Painter, who has dominated at every level of his career until these past couple starts.
"That's what the minor leagues are for," Thomson said. "A lot of guys go through high school, college, and even sometimes in the minor leagues where they don't have any failure and then all of the sudden they get to the Big Leagues and they fail for the first time and they really don't know how to get out of it.
"It's all part of growth, so at times (minor league adversity) is a good thing. He's going to have bad starts here and there."
I don’t know if Worcester’s plan was to be aggressive against Andrew Painter last night, but he surely gave them opportunity to be. He lived in the middle of the strike zone, which he expressed to @TomHousenick in his story. pic.twitter.com/HzURO1unDL
So, a little adversity can go a long way.
Painter is slated to start again on Sunday, also against Worcester. It will be the first time in his professional career that he is pitching on four days rest, which is the last box the Phillies want him to check off before he is deemed ready to advance to the majors.
Up to this point, the Phillies have had Painter pitching just once a week and usually on five or six days rest.
He will still have a limit - the thought is five innings or 75 pitches - but if he comes out of that O.K., then he probably will make a few more starts before getting a rest at the All-Star Break and then the Phillies will decide if he's ready to come up and help the big club.
