Walker is back in the Phillies' rotation after Abel's demotion. Painter not considered for promotion

PHILADELPHI (AP) — Mick Abel couldn't sustain his sublime major league debut and is headed to the minors.

Taijuan Walker is back in Philadelphia's rotation. And anticipation that prized prospect Andrew Painter could be headed to the Phillies will stretch past the All-Star break.

Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez and Cristopher Sánchez are about the only sure things this year in Philadelphia's rotation.

The Phillies demoted Abel, the rookie right-hander who has struggled since he struck out nine in his major league debut, to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies also recalled reliever Seth Johnson from Lehigh Valley ahead of Friday's loss to Cincinnati.

The 23-year-old Abel made six starts for the Phillies and went 2-2 with 5.04 ERA with 21 strikeouts and nine walks.

“Mick needed to go down and breathe a little bit,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Just get a little reset. It's not uncommon.”

A 6-foot-5 right-hander selected 15th overall by the Phillies in the 2020 amateur draft, Abel dazzled against Pittsburgh in May when his nine strikeouts tied a Phillies high for a debut, set by Curt Simmons against the New York Giants on Sept. 28, 1947.

He hasn't pitched beyond the fifth inning in any of his last four starts and was rocked for five runs in 1 2/3 innings on Wednesday against San Diego.

Abel was 3-12 with a 6.46 ERA last year for Lehigh Valley, walking 78 in 108 2/3 innings. He improved to 5-2 with a 2.53 ERA in eight minor league starts this year, walking 19 in 46 1/3 innings.

“This guy's had a really good year,” Thomson said. “His poise, his composure is outstanding. He's really grown. We just need to get back to that. Just attack the zone and get through adversity.”

The Phillies will give Walker another start in Abel's place against San Francisco. Walker has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen over the last two seasons. He has made eight starts with 11 relief appearances this season and is 3-5 with one save and a 3.64 ERA.

Thomson had said he wanted to give Walker an extended look in the bullpen. Abel's struggles instead forced Walker — in the third year of a four-year, $72-million contract — back to the rotation. For now.

“He always considers himself a starter and ultimately wants to start,” Thomson said. "He’ll do anything for the ballclub, because he’s that type of guy, but I think he’s generally happy he’s going to go back into a normal routine, normal for him, anyway.”

Wheeler, Suárez and Sánchez have been lights out in the rotation this year and helped lead the Phillies into first place in the NL East. Jesús Luzardo was a pleasant early season surprise but has struggled over the last two months and gave up six runs in two-plus innings in Friday's 9-6 loss to the Reds.

“I still have all the confidence in the world in Luzardo,” Thomson said. “Everybody's going to have bad outings here and there. I think we're still fine.”

Thomson said he had not made a final decision on who will be the fifth starter after the All-Star break. Painter has two more scheduled starts in Triple-A before the MLB All-Star break and could earn a spot in the rotation. The 22-year-old will not pitch in the All-Star Futures Game as part of the plan to keep him on a hopeful path to the rotation.

Painter hurt his elbow during spring training in 2023 and had Tommy John surgery later that year. He was the 13th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft and signed for a $3.9 million bonus.

Because of the All-Star break and a quirk in the schedule that has them off on all five Thursdays in July, the Phillies won't even need a fifth starter after next week until July 22.

Aaron Nola could be back by August as he works his way back from a rib injury. Nola will spend the All-Star break rehabbing in Florida and needs one or two minor league starts before he can rejoin the rotation.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Mick Abel wipes his face after walking San Diego Padres' Jackson Merrill with the bases loaded to score a run during the second inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Mick Abel throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

Philadelphia Phillies' Mick Abel pitches during the second inning in the first baseball game of a doubleheader against the San Diego Padres Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone strike sparked a fire at an oil depot in Russia’s southern Volgograd region, regional authorities said on Saturday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, regional Gov. Andrei Bocharov was quoted as saying in a Telegram post published on the channel of the local administration. The post did not specify the damage, but said that people living near the depot may have to be evacuated.

Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

Saturday's attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, according to Ukrainian officials, killing at least four people in the capital. For only the second time in the nearly 4-year-old war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine on Friday in a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further Moscow aggression if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. Secretary-General, said Friday's attacks “have resulted in significant civilian casualties and deprived millions of Ukrainians of essential services, including electricity, heating and water at a time of acute humanitarian need.”

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said heat supply would be fully restored in Kyiv by the end of Saturday.

She said areas lying on the right bank of the Dnieper river would gradually lift emergency blackouts and return to scheduled outages. But resuming power in the left bank, where Russian attacks were concentrated, is more complicated due to significant damage to the power grid, she added.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that its forces used aviation, drones, missiles and artillery to strike Ukrainian energy facilities and fuel-storage depots on Friday and overnight. It did not immediately specify the targets or damage.

Overnight into Saturday, Russia struck Ukraine with 121 drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile, according to the Ukrainian air force. It said 94 drones were shot down.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said 59 Ukrainian drones were “neutralized” overnight over Russia and occupied Crimea.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

A residential building is damaged after a Russian air strike during a heavy snow storm in Kyiv, Ukraine, early Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)