Thursday, October 1, 2026
73 ° Clear
73 ° Clear
PHILADELPHIA – The Phillies enter Saturday night as the hottest team in baseball.
After rattling off seven straight wins, they are just three games out of first place in the NL East after the Atlanta Braves dropped their second straight game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Atlanta has now lost seven of their last nine ballgames.
Don Mattingly’s club looks to keep the winning going with rookie Andrew Painter on the hill for the second game of the three-game series against St. Louis. The righty has rebounded rather nicely in his second stint in the bigs this season, outside of his first-inning struggles.
Despite the turbulent road to get the first three outs of his outings, Mattingly believes the rookie has shown improved poise since being recalled.
“I think his body language has been really good. He seems more confident, more intentful,” the interim manager said. “He’s just been a lot more aggressive the way he looks, as much of anything the way he’s been going after guys.”
Painter has had to brush off early ambushes all season, but he’s done a better job doing so in his second go-around. In three of his four starts since rejoining the staff, he has allowed first-inning runs and the team is 2-2 in those starts. He faced the Cardinals during that stretch on August 10 and did not allow a run until the sixth inning.
That’s the Painter Mattingly and the Phillies hope to see Saturday night. Not the one in Minnesota on Sunday, serving up a Brooks Lee grand slam with two outs in the first inning in a game the Phillies surged back late in to win.
On the season, Painter’s ERA in the first inning is 9.56 in 16 appearances.
Left-handed reliever Tanner Banks threw a live bullpen session at Citizens Bank Park Saturday afternoon.
Mattingly said the southpaw threw 30 pitches and could begin a rehab assignment when the team hits the road as long as Banks is feeling up to it. The 34-year-old has been on the IL since July 9 with a strained left forearm.
Prior to the injury, he had a 7.14 ERA in 28 appearances.
The shortstop took a lengthy batting practice before the rest of the Phillies took the field for their routine pregame workout. Mattingly was looking on behind the cage and said that Turner “looked good and is a “feel guy” at the plate.
“I think Trea has always been a little chase,” Mattingly said. “When he’s not feeling good there’s more chase. When he’s feeling good, there’s less chase. It usually goes with how he feels up there.”
After he put together his best month of the season in July slashing .287/.333/.564 with an .897 OPS, the 33-year-old has a slash line of .232/.317/.333 and a .650 OPS while striking out in 20% of his at-bats.
At a season watermark 13 games above .500, a win Saturday for the Phillies will push their win streak to eight games, marking the longest since they strung together eight consecutive victories from May 17-24 of last year.
A win would also mark the 15th win in 20 games this month.
