PHILADELPHIA — Last week, when the Phillies pulled Andrew Painter after five confidence-building innings but only 62 pitches, Don Mattingly met with the rookie starter the next day to explain the methodology.

“He understood,” Mattingly said, “what we’re trying to do with him.”

Also, that they’re going to keep doing it.

Because even though the Phillies believe in Painter as a top-end starter, he isn’t there yet. So, despite giving up two runs on 69 pitches and retiring 10 consecutive batters Monday night against the Cincinnati Reds, he was coming out after six innings.

It nearly backfired, too. The Reds tied the game against Brad Keller and went ahead against José Alvarado. But things usually end well for the Sons of Mattingly, and Bryson Stott took Donnie Baseball off the (quick) hook with a late two-run homer for a 5-4 victory, the Phillies’ fifth in a row.

With two out in the eighth inning, Stott got a slider on the inside corner from Reds reliever Graham Ashcraft and turned on it, lifting it 360 feet to right field and into the bleachers.

A one-run deficit turned into a one-run lead for rested closer Jhoan Duran, who retired the side on 18 pitches to push the Phillies to 25-23, including a 16-4 mark since Mattingly took over as manager.

Painter dazzled, just like he did five nights earlier in Boston. But the Phillies are trying to acclimate the 23-year-old righty to life in a major-league rotation, and the training wheels aren’t off yet.

“We’d love him to be just like [Cristopher Sánchez] and [Zack Wheeler] and those guys, getting deep into the game and getting your bullpen to where you need to go,” Mattingly said before the game. “But he’s also a young kid, first time really in the big leagues.

“So, we’re going to protect him and take care of him in that sense. But if he keeps us in the game, then we’re gonna be happy.”

Painter has done at least that much. Despite fumbling an early 2-0 lead by giving up two runs in the second inning, he mowed through the Reds’ order and completed six innings for the first time in nine major-league appearances.

The Phillies grabbed a 3-2 lead for Painter on Alec Bohm’s solo homer in the sixth. But Sal Stewart took Keller deep to begin the seventh before Alvarado gave up an RBI double to Spencer Steer in the eighth to put the Reds ahead 4-3.

The Phillies jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on only one hit against Lodolo. Trea Turner got it started with a leadoff double, and after consecutive walks, Edmundo Sosa and Adolis García lifted back-to-back sacrifice flies.

But the Reds tied it in the second inning without hitting the ball especially hard against Painter.

Sal Stewart and Nathaniel Lowe singled before Tyler Stephenson hit a cue shot inside the first-base bag to drive in one run. TJ Friedl knocked in the second with a sacrifice fly.

Painter held it there. Like last week in Boston, he pitched even better the second time through the order. After the Reds tied the game, he didn’t allow another hit and permitted only one baserunner on a two-out walk. He retired the final 10 batters he faced.

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