SAN DIEGO – Powered by a quartet of home runs, the San Diego Padres matched their most runs scored at Petco Park of the season in an 11-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two-run home run in the second inning, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill followed with solo shots in the third, and Bryce Johnson added a two-run blast in the eighth as the Padres (81-68) also equaled their most long balls in a home game for the year. Colorado (41-108) has allowed a Majors-most 229 home runs and given up multiple in 67 games this season.

“The team played free, played easy… enjoyed the game. I saw a confident team down a run, I sasw good body language and the one thing about the narrative that I’d like to get out there is the last eight games what’s our record… 5-3.” said manager Mike Shildt. “How many wins do you get in a total season if you go 5-3? 101. I get the opportunity to share my belief system too right, and that’s one thing that for the sake of our mental health… 5-3 is good baseball…

“I just like the way we’ve gone about things in the last week-plus.”

Machado had a multi-hit game for the second straight night, driving in three runs for his third multi-RBI game of the month. Ramón Laureano also knocked in a trio of runs, giving him seven games with two or more RBIs since joining the Brown and Gold.

Dylan Cease didn’t allow a hard hit ball until the fifth inning, scattering five hits across six innings as he allowed one run and a walk while striking out six to earn his eighth win. San Diego has scored six or more runs in seven of his last nine starts, as Cease made his 30th start of the year — it’s the fifth straight season he’s reached that milestone, as well as also reaching at least 200 strikeouts.

“It’s cool, if you’re striking guys out it’s a good sign,” Cease said. “It hasn’t exactly been a year I’m super happy with, but we’re still winning and all I really care about is winning at the end of the day. As long as I keep contributing to winning I’m pretty happy.”

After surrendering a two-out RBI single to Jordan Beck, the Padres responded by loading the bases on back-to-back walks to Machado and Gavin Sheets. Laureano tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field, but that would be all for the first inning.

Then in the second Tatis worked the count full before blasting his 22nd home run of the season to right-center field on an elevated, outside fastball with Jake Cronenworth on after a one-out single. Tatis has homered in five of the last six series, but San Diego has only won two of the games where he went yard.

The Padres continued to pound away on Rockies starter Bradley Blalock in the third, as Machado crushed a hanging curveball for his 25th homer to lead off the inning. Two batters later Merrill timed up a four-seam fastball to the deepest part of the park in left-center, his 12th long ball of the season and third in the last four games against Colorado.

“When our big boys go, it’s pretty dangerous, watch out,” Shildt said. “The good news is we’ve got a lot of big boys, so we talk about Manny, Tatis and Jackson rightfully, and they’re guys that we count on, but the thing about this team is we don’t have to have those guys always do it because we other guys that have and will and are going to continue to do it.”

After going 3-for-34 with runners in scoring position over the first five games of the homestand, the Padres converted on a pair of opportunities in the fourth inning against reliever Antonio Senzatela when Machado hit a two-RBI single with the bases loaded through the left side. Then Laureano brought two more in by roping a double to left, as San Diego finished the night 3-for-6 in RISP situations.

Johnson hit his second career home run in the eighth inning, hammering a changeup to right-center field as a pinch hitter for Tatis after Elias Díaz picked up his second hit of the night.

“You put this lineup in sync, you never know what might happen, you might see tonight or we might just scrap,” Johnson said. “The lineup is stacked from top to bottom and then same with the bullpen. It’s fun to watch these guys too.”

Kyle Hart recorded a one-two-three seventh inning with a strikeout, then notched two more Ks after giving up a hit in the eighth. He was charged with a run when Bradgley Rodriguez, who was recalled from Triple-A El Paso before the game, allowed hits by his first two batters faced. Rodriguez was also tagged for a run on the two-RBI double by Blaine Crim, and hit a batter in his ⅓ inning of work. Yuki Matsui threw a clean ninth with a strikeout, giving Padres pitchers 10 or more strikeouts for the fourth straight game, which matched their season-long stretch that they’ve done three times prior.

Luis Arraez left the game before the ninth inning in a freak accident while taking the field when he was hit in the face by a throw that was wide of Ryan O’Hearn at first base. Shildt said Arraez would be evaluated, but he was “alert and clear-eyed.”

In the series finale Yu Darvish (3-5, 5.65 ERA) will get the nod for the Brown and Gold, while Colorado counters with Germán Márquez (3-13, 6.31 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. at Petco Park.

This story was updated at 9:33 p.m.