Andrew Painter throws 42 pitches in the first inning, Phillies lose 6-3 to the White Sox

Andrew Painter’s first warm-up pitch sailed over Realmuto’s head. That should have been the warning.

His first pitch of the game to Sam Antonacci was helmet-high. His second was a slider he bounced. His fourth pitch hit the leadoff man. Then a walk. Then a single. Then another walk. Before anyone in the building had finished their first beer, it was 4-0 White Sox and Painter had thrown 42 pitches without recording three outs.

The Phillies lost 6-3 on Picture Day at Citizens Bank Park. The four-game winning streak is over. The homestand record drops to 4-1. Painter’s ERA climbed to 6.21.

The Phillies have an Andrew Painter problem…

Andrew Painter is not good.

Last 2 starts:
06-06: 4.2 IP, 6 ER, 4 K, 2 BB
05-31: 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 K, 1 BB

Season Stats:
6.21 ERA | 1.57 WHIP | 7.29 K/9#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/PFmc5DBBv1

— PaceBall (@paceball__) June 7, 2026

Saturday marked Andrew Painter’s fifth start this season allowing four or more earned runs. His third allowing five or more. The good vibes from the 14-run explosion over the previous two days evaporated before the first inning was over because Painter couldn’t throw a strike.

The Fastball Is a Problem

Andrew Painter threw 11 four-seam fastballs in the first inning and landed two of them for strikes. Two out of eleven. After the first inning, he threw the pitch four more times the rest of the outing.

He used it just 17 percent overall and threw it for a strike only 27 percent of the time. When your primary fastball can only find the zone 27 percent of the time, you’re not pitching. You’re surviving.

The command issues aren’t new. This has been the story since Tommy John surgery. At Triple-A last year, Andrew Painter had a 47.2 first-pitch strike rate. If that qualified in the big leagues, it would have been the lowest since 2004. He’s improved that number this season to 59.3 percent, which is progress.

The misses within the zone are the current problem. His zone percentage, the rate of pitches thrown in the strike zone, is the fourth highest in baseball among pitchers with 50-plus innings. That sounds good until you realize it means he’s throwing too many hittable pitches in the zone without the ability to expand and get chases.

Hitters have the fifth-highest batting average against Painter among qualified starters. He’s either missing the zone entirely or throwing it right where hitters can barrel it.

There’s no in-between.

The slider has become his best pitch. He called it his best “in-zone pitch” and threw it for strikes three-quarters of the time Saturday. The splitter has developed into a legitimate weapon.

Since the beginning of May, opposing hitters are batting just .192 against it with a .615 OPS over a seven-start stretch. He threw the splitter 21 times Saturday, more than any other pitch in his six-pitch mix.

The fastball command is so inconsistent that one bad inning can torpedo an entire outing before Painter can settle in. Saturday was the latest example. The first inning buried him and even though he competed and kept the game somewhat close for a few more innings, the damage was done before the crowd finished finding their seats.

The Phillies Are Tied for the Most Blowup Starts in Baseball

Here’s the stat that puts the fifth starter problem in perspective.

The Phillies are tied for the second-most starts in baseball with six or more runs allowed. Ten of them. On a team where Sanchez has a 1.46 ERA and Wheeler has a sub-2.00 ERA. The top of the rotation is historically dominant.

The bottom of the rotation is historically bad. Painter’s 6.21 ERA and Nola’s 6.04 ERA are dragging the overall staff numbers down despite Sanchez and Wheeler pitching at Cy Young levels.

The Phillies essentially have two aces, two question marks, and a fifth starter who is either dealing or getting lit up with very little in between. Andrew Painter has completed at least five innings in seven of his 12 starts, which is fine for a 23-year-old rookie. He’s shown flashes of dominance.

The splitter development is real. But starting the game by hitting a batter, walking two guys, and throwing 42 pitches in the first inning against the White Sox is not what a team in the Wild Card race needs from its fifth starter in June.

So What Are the Options?

The Phillies don’t have starting depth in the organization. If they wanted to send Andrew Painter to Triple-A to work through the fastball command issues, they’d need to acquire another starter via trade. That’s a conversation that the front office is probably already having given Painter’s inconsistency and Nola’s struggles.

Whether Dombrowski acts on it before the deadline or rides with the current group through the summer depends on whether Painter can string together quality starts between the blowups.

Sending him down isn’t ideal because the Phillies need him.

There’s nobody at Lehigh Valley ready to step in and be better. Keeping him up means accepting that every fifth day is a coin flip between the Painter who threw 17 1/3 innings of five-run ball over three good starts and the Painter who throws 42 pitches in the first inning and gives up six earned runs to the White Sox.

The ceiling is obvious but too many times, the floor shows up and thats what we all witnessed on Saturday in the first inning. The Phillies need to be patient with the development while also being honest about the fact that a 6.21 ERA from the fifth starter is costing them games during a season where every win matters.

Andrew Painter’s next start needs to be better. The Phillies can’t afford to spot teams four runs in the first inning against the White Sox and expect to keep winning. Not with the offense ranking 29th in baseball. Not with the margin for error this thin.

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