Dalton Rushing and Freddie Freeman power Dodgers

SAN DIEGO — The Dodgers finally landed a lot of little jabs as an offense Sunday against the San Diego Padres.

And in a pivotal, sweep-evading 8-2 win at Petco Park — which once again tied the 2 groups for first place in the National League West standings — it allowed their slumping lineup to ship some badly needed knockout blows.

For the first time this weekend, the Dodgers seemed like themselves at the plate.

They bashed 4 home runs, none larger than a tie-breaking three-run shot from backup catcher Dalton Rushing in the seventh that finally determined the sport.

They strung together 9 hits and 4 walks, cracking a Padres pitching workers that had smothered them over the first two video games in this rivalry’s closing renewal of the season.

Most importantly, however, they did all the little issues that have too often gone lacking during their current two-month funk; one in which they’ve ranked twenty fourth in the majors in scoring since the start of July, and let what was once a nine-game lead in the division flip into a dogfight down the stretch.

They prolonged at-bats. Battled with two strikes. And, at long last, earned the sort of pitches their star-studded roster might wallop.

“For us to come out here and execute as an offense, way better than we did the last couple days, that’s a big boost for us,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had two home runs to help the Dodgers salvage the sequence finale.

“When you expand the zone, the slugging percentage is going to go down, because pitchers are going to continue to expand,” supervisor Dave Roberts added. “But when you earn good counts and get good pitches, control the zone, then slug happens. You can’t always chase it. Which, I thought, today we did a really good job of.”

Ahead of first pitch, Roberts spoke at size about the group’s current offensive struggles — following up on his Saturday evening critique of the membership’s more and more all-or-nothing strategy.

“We haven’t really been in-sync,” Roberts said. “It’s been disjointed a lot, as far as the offense.”

When requested if that meant his group needed to undertake more of a small-ball mentality, however, Roberts pushed back.

“I think it’s a fair question,” he said. “But I couldn’t disagree more.”

After all, his group is still stocked full of All-Stars, MVPs and future Hall of Famers. At their core, they’re constructed to bludgeon opponents — not slap singles and drop down sacrifice bunts.

“Slugging is still a part of it,” he said. “I definitely don’t want guys to hit like I did.”

Around the margins, though, there have been methods Roberts felt the Dodgers (74-57) might better place themselves to do that. Like attempting to work better counts, keep alive with two strikes, and placing a better steadiness between persistence and aggression.

“I want my cake, and [to] eat it as well,” he quipped, a devilish smile on his face.

“I’d be shocked,” he added, “if we don’t see a different offensive output from here forward, starting today.”

The change began in the first inning, with the Dodgers placing Padres starter Nick Pivetta under rapid stress.

Shohei Ohtani drew a five-pitch leadoff stroll. Mookie Betts shortened up his swing on an 0-and-2 slider to line a single up the center. Freeman loaded the bases by grinding out a full-count free go.

It was a string of small victories that supplied cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández the right likelihood to slug.

Hernández tried to, getting a fastball over the plate in a 3-and-1 depend and launching a deep fly ball that appeared destined to be a grand slam. The drive, however, hung up just enough for Ramón Laureano to rob it at the wall.

The sacrifice fly introduced in the Dodgers’ only run of the inning — giving them a 1-0 lead that would soon be erased on Elias Díaz’s two-run homer in the third off Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the only runs he allowed in a six-inning start).

Dodgers beginning pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Padres in the first inning Sunday.

(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

Still, it set the tone for a flurry of offense that would comply with, when a weekend of non-existent offense finally began to flip.

“Getting the guys on and scoring in that first inning was huge,” Freeman unhappy. “Even though we could have got more out of it, just getting one run across was a good boost for us coming off the last couple games.”

In the sixth, Freeman hit his first home run of the day, crushing another center-cut fastball from Pivetta to right-center for a tying blast.

Then, against Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada in the seventh, the membership put all the items together in a five-run rally.

Andy Pages rolled a single through the left facet to lead off. Michael Conforto got here up next, fouled off a full-count slider, then took a borderline fastball at the top of the zone for a stress-inducing stroll.

Miguel Rojas couldn’t get a bunt down after that, ultimately swinging away for a fly out to middle.

But, in what was simply his best second of a attempting rookie season, Rushing linked on the deadly blow seven pitches later — resetting after a dangerous first strike call, fouling off his own two-strike slider to keep the at-bat alive, then clobbering another slider to proper for his go-ahead three-run homer.

“When I’m in the box and I get put in a hole, it’s almost like, ‘All right, I’m going to find my way out,’” said Rushing, who entered the day batting just .184 with two home runs. “I kind of played the game with him. He threw every pitch that he had, and I was totally banking on just being able to put a good swing on the ball whatever he threw.”

“I think today,” Roberts added, “was a big step in the right direction for him.”

The same, of course, was true of the Dodgers’ complete offense — which also received a second homer from Freeman later in the seventh, then another when Ohtani belted his forty fifth homer of the season in the ninth.

They received back to doing the little issues proper. They reeled off one big swing after another as a end result.

“Today was more indicative of what we’re going to do, we expect, going forward,” Roberts said. “The fight, the grind, taking what the pitcher is giving you — and then if there’s slug there, it’s there. Just the byproduct of good at-bats all day.”