Joe Girardi’s once-strong approval rating as manager of the Phillies has waned in recent weeks, and it appeared to hit an all-time low on Friday night, even as his side took a 4-3 win in 10 innings over the San Diego heated to white. Padres.

Brad Miller helped the Phillies avoid another disheartening loss by netting an RBI brace down the center-field wall front of San Diego reliever Austin Adams to end the game after the reliever box made another save at the top of the ninth. It was the Phillies’ eighth stoppage in nine games and their 22nd of the season at the top of the major leagues.

But the real drama had unfolded earlier. With two strikeouts early in the eighth inning, Girardi emerged from the home dugout at Citizens Bank Park and headed straight for home plate umpire Chris Guccione. He was making a double change which included the withdrawal of Zack Wheeler after another brilliant performance in a season filled with them by the veteran right-hander.

The crowd of 22,653 people loudly and relentlessly booed Girardi even before he reached the mound and took the ball from Wheeler. These people, of course, know what a disaster the Phillies pen has been this season and by the end of the night, they saw the same.

The boos were temporarily replaced with a long, loud standing ovation for Wheeler as he made his way to the Phillies dugout. They resumed, however, after Girardi handed the ball over to left-hander Jose Alvarado and returned to the dugout.

“It’s part of the job,” Girardi said. “I’ve always said it: Phillies fans just want us to do well. And you know what? I’m also frustrated, just like them… so that’s fine with me.

Girardi explained that his decision to retire Wheeler after 114 pitches was more about future starts than Friday night.

“It’s the decision,” said the manager. “We have a long way to go. He has pitched so many innings for us already and there is concern on my part because of that.

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Wheeler leads the majors with 114 innings pitched in 17 starts. He never pitched 200 innings in a season. Wheeler said he understood both Girardi’s decision and the backlash from fans.

“Obviously of course I wanted to be there,” he said. “But it’s for the long term. I want to do this all season and not just half. I get the [fan] frustration. [The bullpen] was a bit shaky, but I’ll pick up on Joe on that. As soon as we met in the canoe, I said to him: “Thank you for letting me go back to the eighth”. “

The boos escalated in the ninth inning when Alvarado and compatriot Ranger Suarez combined to take a 3-0 lead. Most of the blame fell on Alvarado, whose title of closest to the team is already on thin ice even though he only recently replaced Hector Neris in the role. Alvarado opened the ninth with a walk to Jake Cronenworth before giving Fernando Tatis Jr. an RBI brace.

A second march ended the exit from Alvarado. Like Girardi, he left in a chorus of boos.

Suarez pulled Eric Hosmer out to put the Phillies within winning streak, but Jurickson Profar followed with an equalizer at the third base line and the basic level of anger became palpable. To Suarez’s credit, he stopped the Padres from scoring again in the 10th and secured a victory that should have gone to Wheeler.

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In his second season with the Phillies, Wheeler continued the best part of his career shutting out the Padres on four hits in 7 2/3 innings. This is the 10th time in 17 starts this season that he has played at least seven innings and allowed three runs or less. His overall ERA fell to 2.05 and without the remarkable work of former Mets teammate Jacob deGrom, he would currently be in the conversation for the 2021 Cy Young Award.

“It’s amazing,” Miller said after scoring his brace. “We don’t talk about it enough because what deGrom does is amazing and historic, but what our guy does is Cy Young and a worthy MVP. That’s all. I love his demeanor, he’s a workaholic and, yeah, it’s been really special to see him pitch every five days.

The crowd on Friday night absolutely loved watching Wheeler play against the Padres and they made it clear they wanted to see even more.

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