Apr 12, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Andrew Painter (24) throws a pitch against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the third inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
PHILADELPHIA — Just over half an hour before the Phillies were scheduled to host the Arizona Diamondbacks in a rubber match Sunday, it was announced in the press box that Andrew Painter had been scratched with a migraine. Zach Pop's 170th career game would be his first MLB start.
To say that a wrench was thrown in the Phillies plans for Sunday would be underselling it. If Painter wasn't going to be able to pitch, Pop was going to have to pitch multiple innings and then there's a chance he would have been designated for assignment Monday, with Jhoan Duran, Tanner Banks and Orion Kerkering the only options in the bullpen that could be sent to Triple-A if a fresh arm was needed for Monday's tilt against the Chicago Cubs.
But before Pop even took the mound in the top of the first inning, Painter walked out to the bullpen. He did some long tossing in the outfield. What became clear was that while the migraine had forced the Phillies to scratch Painter as the starter, he was still in play to pitch at some point in the game.
And that he did, coming out of the bullpen after Pop took down the first two frames, and turning in an excellent showing. Across five innings, Painter struck out seven batters, while issuing just one walk and allowing three hits and one run.
It wasn't enough for the Phillies to earn a win, as they dropped to 7-8 on the season by losing 4-3 to the DBacks Sunday.
For the third game in a row, all the runs the Phillies scored came in one inning. Sunday, it was the bottom of the sixth, when Trea Turner hit a two-run home run and Bryce Harper plated Kyle Schwarber with an RBI double. That was it, though, as the Phillies squandered runners on the corners with no one out scenarios in both the sixth and eighth.
Still, it's hard not to look at Painter as the star of the game — with a nod to Pop for limiting the Diamondbacks to one run in two innings as well — particularly given how he felt in the hours leading up to his third start of the tilt.
"I woke up not feeling great. On the way to the ballpark, still didn't feel good," Painter acknowledged. "It wasn't until probably 15 minutes before the game that I started feeling a little better, just took it from there."
Painter has a history of migraines, dating back to when he played travel ball as a kid. Fortunately, this wasn't an ocular migraine — which can cause vision loss — though Painter has had those in the past. Still, he felt pressure in his head and "was throwing up all morning." Medicine and some additional time helped him to get in a position to take the mound Sunday, albeit in a different manner than initially anticipated.
Is Andrew Painter able to predict when he has migraines, or do they come out of the blue?
(Via @TimKellySports) pic.twitter.com/wMuvikYfDM
It was hardly a sure thing that Painter was going to be able to pitch at all Sunday, but when asked, he acknowledged that it was important for him to eat some innings so that someone didn't have to get optioned or DFA'd in the name of getting a fresh arm for Monday.
"Super important," Painter said. "I didn't know the extent of how long I was going to be able to go out, how good I was gonna feel out there. But I wanted to go out there and at least get a couple innings in to just take that off the relievers."
Luckily, Painter says that by the time he got in the game, he was "100%, ready to go." He looked it on the mound.
It was also an encouraging bounce-back from Painter after he allowed nine hits and four earned runs over four innings in San Francisco last Monday. Across two home outings this season, Painter has limited opponents to just two earned runs over 10 1/3 innings pitched (1.76 ERA).
Couple bouncing back from both the migraine and a bad start, and these are the type of moments where a rookie starts to impress even some of his most accomplished teammates.
"Great," Turner said of his thoughts on Painter's outing. "Tough morning for him, dealing with all sorts of stuff. It was huge for him because he picked up our bullpen and then he was really good on top of that. So, tip your cap to him and Pop and everybody really — I thought everybody did a pretty good job picking up their duties, and Painter is gonna be big for us."
