The Phillies changed their plan for June 12 and turned to Tanner Banks as the opener in front of Andrew Painter against the Milwaukee Brewers. Instead of handing Painter the first pitch, Philadelphia expected Banks to start the game and then pass it to the 23-year-old right-hander for as long as he could work.
That decision surfaced about three hours before first pitch, when a lineup posted by UnderdogMLB listed Banks as the starting pitcher for the Phillies’ game in Milwaukee. It was a notable shift for Painter, who was expected to be the main arm in the matchup but had gone 1-7 with a 6.21 ERA in 11 starts and 58 innings before Thursday’s game. He had 47 strikeouts and a 71 ERA+ in his first MLB season, numbers that help explain why the Phillies were willing to alter the script.
The move also mattered because the Phillies entered the Brewers series at 37-31, still chasing the Atlanta Braves in the NL East. A win over Milwaukee would have to come against Jacob Misiorowski, a pitcher mentioned as a candidate for the NL Cy Young alongside Chris Sanchez, which made the opening game feel like more than a routine lineup card.
Painter’s path to this moment had already been closely watched since Philadelphia drafted him in the first round in 2021, and the club had seen enough in the minors to imagine him as a future ace alongside Zack Wheeler. But his first major league season had been uneven, and the Phillies had already shown they were prepared to adjust quickly when they placed Adolis Garcia on the 60-day injured list with a torn lat after his injury on Wednesday and inserted Griffin Rincones Jr. in right field. On Thursday, the change was on the mound instead of in the lineup.
What remained unclear was how long Banks would stay in before Painter took over. The Phillies planned to let Painter pitch after the opener and see how far he could carry the game, which left the real test not in the announcement but in the innings that followed.
