Rob Thomson on Andrew Painter's Innings Count, MLB Debut and More

Anything can happen over the course of 162, but the Phillies probably didn't imagine handing the ball to Andrew Painter for his first start while on a three-game losing streak.

The Phils fell Saturday and Sunday to the Rangers, then were mistake-prone and quiet offensively again in a dispiriting blowout loss Monday night to the visiting Nationals. They won Cristopher Sanchez' start and dropped ones made by Aaron Nola, Jesus Luzardo and Taijuan Walker ahead of Painter's big-league debut.

Still, he's not being tasked with putting the team on his back or being the slumpbuster himself. The Phillies will need to hit at some point. For Painter, five solid innings would be plenty.

"If he gave us six innings, I'd be thrilled," manager Rob Thomson said Monday afternoon. "As long as he throws strikes, commands the strike zone, uses his stuff, keeps people off balance, he's going to be fine."

Painter pitched very well in spring training, allowing three runs and nine baserunners in 11⅔ innings. His opponents went 7-for-41 (.171). His first regular-season outing comes against a Nationals team that lacks experience but is feeling confident after a 3-1 start.

Painter pitched a simulated game last week at Citizens Bank Park, not only to stay in rhythm but to get a feel for the mound.

"He's never been on it," Thomson said. "The background, the field, the slope, I think that helps."

Innings count

Painter threw a career-high 118 innings last season at Triple-A. It stands to reason he could increase to the 140-150 range this season but probably not too far beyond. Teams often build their young starters slowly, plus this one missed two full seasons with an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.

How cautious will the Phillies be with rookie Painter?

"It all depends on those gauges — arm angle, extension, velocity," Thomson said. "All those things tell us a lot. As long as those things are in check, then I really won't worry too much about him."

Painter's innings could be preserved throughout the season by the Phillies utilizing a six-man rotation. They'll have six starters when Zack Wheeler returns in a couple weeks. He could also be skipped a time or two over the course of six months.

In the immediate future, though, the goal is just going out and delivering Tuesday night to help the Phillies snap a skid. It's an opportunity for a cold lineup to pick up the young kid in his first start.

Early run support would go such a long way in settling Painter in. The Phillies are 2-for-26 their first time through the batting order the last three games and have fallen behind by three runs in three in a row, six runs twice in a row. They've been out of games by the midpoint.

That's all outside Painter's control, though. He's focused on commanding his fastball and working ahead in counts. He has a deep arsenal of pitches — four-seam fastball, sinker, slider, sweeper, curveball, changeup — and all of them can be used to end an at-bat.

"I know that he's been talking with the other starters, picking their brains," Thomson said. "The poise has been great. Nothing's really gotten him too fired up, he's been even-keeled, it's good to see.

"He's a mature guy, he's smart. I think he understands that it would be tough to have your first failure here at the big-league level. That's part of what the minor leagues are for, to be able to go through it and have failure whether you're a hitter or pitcher or whatever and come out of it and know that the next time you experience failure, you're going to come out of it."