Despite being on the losing end of his most recent start, Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Andrew Painter showed growth in his development as a starting pitcher. 

In his ninth start, Painter showed signs of what can make him a frontline starter, pitching into the seventh inning for the first time (6.1 innings) and allowing two earned runs on six hits. 

Painter has made it his goal as of late to pitch deeper into games, aiming to help save the bullpen and get the win. 

“Your job is to go out there and pitch deep into games,” Painter said to Jared Greenspan of MLB.com. “That takes the load off the bullpen. Just keeping that pitch count down and being efficient early has helped me.”

Painter's performance on Sunday comes on the heels of his rotation mates and the Phillies' aces Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sanchez tossing two gems of their own. Wheeler threw six innings of shutout baseball and struck out six in a 3-0 victory on Saturday while Sanchez pitched eight scoreless innings and struck out six. 

After Painter's performance on Sunday, Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said that the 23-year-old's performance was equal to that of Wheeler's and Sanchez's.

“You see him be a guy that’s kind of turned into the other guys [Wheeler and Sanchez],” Mattingly said to Greenspan. “... Probably as good as I’ve seen him.”

Andrew Painter's splitter has been his best pitch this season

A six-pitch pitcher, Painter has leaned on a four-seamer, slider and splitter, and has ditched his sinker (.308 batting average and .577 OPS). Of his six pitches, Painter's splitter has been his best pitch, with a .185 batting average and a .296 slugging percentage. 

The Phillies need Andrew Painter to start pitching into the seventh inning

With Painter showing signs of consistency and going deeper into games, the next step in his development will be to complete the seventh inning and get over 100 pitches. Painter was one pitch shy of 100 on May 2 versus the Miami Marlins, but that was in five innings. 

Having Painter start completing the seventh inning, like Wheeler and Sanchez do most every start, will give the Phillies three viable starters in a rotation that has come into form. In the last 15 days, the Phillies' pitching staff has been the second-best in baseball behind the Guardians (2.54 ERA) and first in WHIP (1.00). In the last 30 days, the Phillies were still in the top 10 for ERA (eighth, 3.20) and WHIP (sixth, 1.14).

The Phillies, at this point in the season, need left-hander Jesus Luzardo and right-hander Aaron Nola to continue to figure out their issues. Luzardo had pitched well as of late, having a 1-1 record and a 3.80 ERA in May, while Nola continues to fluster Phillies fans, having a 6.04 ERA overall and a 6.05 ERA in May. 

Getting Nola, Luzardo and, ultimately the offense (.232 team batting average and .689 OPS) going will further make the Phillies a viable playoff team.