SAN FRANCISCO -- The metaphorical floodgates opened for the Dodgers' lineup on Saturday night. The following afternoon, they continued to pour it on.
The Dodgers followed the previous night's 13-run outburst with a 10-2 win on Sunday at Oracle Park. They rode performances from Teoscar Hernández (four hits), Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Michael Conforto (three apiece) to secure a series victory over the Giants.
The last time L.A. had four players with three-plus hits in one game was April 24, 2024 (Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages and Will Smith).
"It’s definitely a little more breathing room," said Tyler Glasnow, who struggled with his command early but settled down for 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball. "Coming out and having a good chance at a win makes it a little less crazy, I guess."
More than the quantity of hits, the quality of at-bats they're taking, one after another, have the Dodgers encouraged.
"It's quality at-bats, quality outs, moving guys over, getting sac flies, bringing defenses in if you move them over," Freeman said. "It creates more traffic, more things that are able to happen on the baseball field. Just think the quality of at-bats have been really good over the last week."
The Dodgers maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over the Padres in the NL West. They've won six of their past seven games, a span in which the competition ticked up from a pair of last-place teams -- the Orioles and Rockies -- to a Giants club fighting to stay in the Wild Card picture.
Now comes the Dodgers' toughest test this month -- and a potential preview of what's to come in October. The Phillies are coming to town.
These teams haven't seen each other since April, when the Dodgers' season-opening undefeated streak came to an end at eight games and the Phillies took two of three. Five months later, both clubs lead their respective divisions, with Philadelphia on the cusp of clinching the NL East.
The Phillies have a 4 1/2-game cushion for the second seed in the National League and a first-round bye in the postseason. With 13 games remaining for the Dodgers in the regular season, it's unlikely that they'll be able to make up that ground.
"We've put ourselves in a tough spot," manager Dave Roberts said. "I still think, honestly, we just got to win games. If it happens, great. If it doesn't, great."
For the next three days, they'll control their own destiny.
"It's definitely the kind of baseball we want to be playing down the stretch and for the rest of the season," Conforto said. "I think we're doing a lot of the little things right. That's kind of been the theme as we finish up here."
In back-to-back games, the Dodgers were able to chase the Giants' starter -- Logan Webb on Saturday and Robbie Ray on Sunday -- in the fifth inning. Ray departed after Freeman tacked on a run with a double, the 547th of his career, which tied Manny Ramirez for 33rd on the all-time list.
Two batters later, Conforto entered as a pitch-hitter and found a hole in the right side of the infield, bringing another pair of runs home. He would later drive in another run in the eighth, giving him a season-high-tying three RBIs, and raise his average to .200 for the first time since April 19.
"That's nice," Conforto said, breaking into a smile, when informed he had reached the Mendoza line even after grounding out in his final at-bat. "It's been a long time. It's been like five months."
The Dodgers kept the pressure on until the end. Ohtani avoided going hitless with a ninth-inning bloop single that dropped in between center fielder Jung Hoo Lee and shortstop Willy Adames, then went on to break his own L.A.-era record (since 1958) with his 135th run scored this season.
From the at-bat quality to the production, this is the type of momentum that the Dodgers are looking to carry into a big three-game set against the Phillies. They're getting back to their brand of baseball at the right time, even if they're not able to play their way into a bye.
"We want the bye, obviously," Freeman said. "And obviously, we've played ourselves into this position. We've got two weeks left, got a big series against them. So hopefully we can continue to keep playing the baseball we've been playing, and hopefully win the series and keep it going."