Andrew Painter exits his start vs. Nationals with left hamstring tightness

Phillies starter Andrew Painter was removed from his start against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night with left hamstring tightness.

The Phillies said Painter will be evaluated further. He was amid an encouraging outing against the Nationals, which was cut short after just four innings and 63 pitches. After surrendering one run in the first inning on a hit batter and two singles, he seemed to settle in, preventing Washington from tacking on. Painter struck out four batters, two on his changeup and two with his fastball, and needed just nine pitches in the fourth inning. The Phillies went on to lose 10-4 in 11 innings.

The Phillies’ starting depth is paper-thin. While Painter had worked on his fastball in triple-A Lehigh Valley before being recalled last week, the club relied on Alan Rangel and a patchwork of bullpen games to fill the fifth spot in the rotation.

They opted not to trade for rotation help before Monday’s trade deadline. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the team was unwilling and unable to meet prices on the market for starting pitching.

“Really, the choice came: Do you end up getting a guy that’s a fifth starter that you don’t think is as good as your guy that you have now, and option the guy that you think is a better chance to win to help your depth, or do what we’re doing?” Dombrowski said Monday. “And we figured we do what we are doing.”