Andrew Painter overcomes migraine, tosses five solid innings as Phillies fall to Diamondbacks

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 12, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Andrew Painter was supposed to start Sunday. Then he wasn’t. Then, 17 minutes before his called-off first pitch, the big rookie walked to the bullpen and slowly began loosening.

Finally, in the third inning, he entered the game.

Confused? Join the club of 43,060 paying customers, assuming they weren’t distracted by the Phanatic’s pregame birthday party or the Phillies’ temperamental offense and atrocious baserunning.

Painter can explain. But first, a few particulars: The Phillies fell behind early, grabbed a one-run lead, fell behind again and ran themselves out of an eighth-inning rally in a 4-3 clunker in the rubber game of a weekend series against the Diamondbacks.

It was as ugly as it sounds. With runners on the corners and one out in the eighth, Brandon Marsh took off from first base on the pitch and didn’t stop until he got to second. Aroldis García skied a pop-up to second baseman Ketel Marte, who caught it and threw to first to double up Marsh.

Rally over.

For three consecutive games against the Diamondbacks, the Phillies scored all of their runs in one inning. Before that, they were shut out in back-to-back games in San Francisco.

It explains why, through 15 games, they’re 7-8.

Oh, about Painter: Three hours before the game, he sat at his locker and reviewed scouting reports. Everything appeared normal. But at 1 p.m. ET, the Phillies announced that he was “scratched” because of a migraine.

A few minutes after that, amid the festivities for the Phanatic, Painter made his way across the outfield to the bullpen. The team said that he might pitch, but he wouldn’t start.

Reliever Zach Pop warmed up in the bullpen and pitched the first two innings, allowing a run on James McCann’s one-out RBI double in the second inning.

Painter entered to begin the third inning and struck out leadoff-hitting Ildemaro Vargas. He cranked up his fastball to 98.4 mph, its usual level, and threw his full complement of breaking pitches.

Late-arriving fans might not have known the difference.

Trailing 2-0, the Phillies rallied in the sixth inning. Trea Turner hit a ball off the top of the right-field wall that was initially ruled a double before a replay ruled that it was a two-run home run.

Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper followed with back-to-back doubles for a 3-2 lead.

Painter got through seven innings with the lead in tow before the bullpen coughed it up in the eighth. José Alvarado gave up a game-tying single to José Fernandez before reliever Jonathan Bowlan issued a one-out walk and a go-ahead single to pinch-hitter Adrian Del Castillo.