Don Mattingly explains decision to lift Andrew Painter after five solid innings in Phillies’ loss to Red Sox

BOSTON — The plan was set even before Andrew Painter uncorked his first pitch here Wednesday night.

The Phillies wanted him to get through five innings.

No more, hopefully no less.

So, although the rookie fifth starter gave up one run in five innings — on only 62 pitches, no less — interim manager Don Mattingly stuck to the plan. This was something for Painter to build on, and that was enough.

“Yeah,” Mattingly said. “He did what we wanted.”

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter is learning through experience and working to sharpen his fastball command

And if Painter gets on a roll over the next few weeks, it will be deemed a good call.

For now, it cost the Phillies a game.

In taking the ball from Painter after he’d gone through the Red Sox’s order twice, Mattingly handed a tie game to the bullpen. Orion Kerkering left a fastball up to Ceddanne Rafaela for a two-out, two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the Phillies lost, 3-1, on a chilly night in Fenway Park.

“I was happy with [Painter], just knowing that we’re going to need him all year long,” Mattingly said. “Just get him building off a good start. And we got where we wanted to go with our bullpen, too. We just didn’t get the out we needed.”

OK, some context: Painter got hit for 19 earned runs in 18⅓ innings over his previous four starts, all losses. His fastball command was spotty. Through seven major league appearances, opponents teed off on his four-seamer to the tune of a .373 average and .576 slugging.

But the Phillies believe in Painter as a future anchor of the rotation. They don’t want to send him to triple A, and even if they did, they lack an alternate fifth starter.

Mattingly also had a rested bullpen. And with rain in the forecast here Thursday, the Phillies might get an unscheduled night off before opening a three-game weekend series in Pittsburgh.

So, Mattingly and pitching coach Caleb Cotham decided on a less-is-more approach with their impressionable rookie starter. They ran it by president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, Mattingly said, although they stopped short of informing Painter ahead of time.

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“I definitely wouldn’t tell a guy that before the game,” Mattingly said. “But it is something that we’ll talk about now that we’ve been through it, what we were thinking tonight. I don’t want him looking over his shoulder, like he’s come get me [after five innings].”

Painter didn’t fight to stay in the game, according to Mattingly, although he clearly wanted to keep pitching.

“I mean, I don’t make those decisions,” Painter said. “My job is to just go out there and pitch until they tell me not to go anymore.”

Painter left a fastball over the plate for Trevor Story to hammer for a solo homer in the second inning. But he seemed to get better the second time through the order when he gained better feel for his split-changeup.

Leaning on his breaking pitches, notably a sweeper and slider, and spotting his fastball better, Painter gave up only one other hit, a two-out single to Willson Contreras in the third inning. He got through the third, fourth, and fifth innings on a total of 30 pitches.

“I thought the sweeper was really good,” Painter said. “I finally found the changeup in the fourth inning. I didn’t have it for the first three. The swings will tell you a lot [about the fastball], but I wasn’t throwing it too much.”

» READ MORE: The Phillies have an Alec Bohm problem. What are their options? And how long can they wait?

In the ninth inning, the Phillies attempted to come back, putting the tying and go-ahead runners in scoring position with two out. But flame-throwing Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman struck out Alec Bohm.

Otherwise, the youngest Phillies — Painter and Justin Crawford — were the best Phillies.

Crawford tied the game by powering a thigh-high fastball over the center field wall in the third inning. In the fourth, he closed on a pop fly to shallow center field and made a sliding catch to rob a hit.

It’s been a blast-from-the-past week for Crawford, the 22-year-old rookie who spent the summers here when he was 7 and 8 years old while his dad, Carl Crawford, played left field for the Red Sox.

But with Painter, the Phillies are focused on the future, even as he pitches for them in the present.

Painter’s last pitch was a 98-mph fastball that tied up Red Sox leadoff hitter Jarren Duran, a good left-handed bat. When he returned to the dugout, Painter received handshakes on a job well-done.

For now, five solid innings qualifies as exactly that.

“We wanted to be proactive with him,” Mattingly said. “Get him going, get some confidence. He threw the ball really well tonight. Got his command back. I don’t think he walked anybody.

“If he goes out there and keeps us in the game and gives us five every time out, we’re going to be happy. Obviously we think he’s going to be better than that. But if he’s doing that at the back end of our rotation, then we’re going to be in a pretty good spot.”

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Ricky Bottalico spouts opinions each day on sports-talk radio and the Phillies' television pre- and postgame show. But before all that, he had a solid career as a relief pitcher, even representing the Phillies in the 1996 All-Star Game at Veterans Stadium. With the baseball world set to descend on Philly again in a few weeks, Ricky Bo joined "Phillies Extra" to re-live his All-Star experience. Watch here.

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Previous episodes: Preston Mattingly | Caleb Cotham | Larry Bowa | Joe Maddon | Rhys Hoskins | Terry Francona | Aaron Rowand | Hunter Pence | Paco Figueroa