Dodgers use five homers to beat Padres, 8-4, push lead to 7 1/2 games

It was home run or go home.

The Dodgers’ offense has been surprisingly reliant on the long ball all season. When they’re sending baseballs over fences, they win a lot of games.

If the Padres had any doubt, the Dodgers provided a little additional education Friday night, hitting five home runs to power their way to an 8-4 victory at Petco Park.

With the Giants losing their seventh consecutive game, the Dodgers increased their lead in the National League West to 7½ games.

The Dodgers had only 10 hits, but when half are homers, that’s a lot of offense. The Padres tried to get with the program –- all but one of their hits were homers, but then they had only four hits.

The biggest home run was the most unlikely. Justin Ruggiano, just acquired from the Mariners on Monday, delivered a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead. The Dodgers hit three home runs in the inning off left-hander Marc Rzepczynski.

After Ruggiano’s blast, Adrian Gonzalez added a two-run homer and Chase Utley a solo shot. Suddenly a close game was an 8-3 Dodgers rout.

Carl Crawford started it all with a home run off James Shields in the first, but former Dodger Matt Kemp gave the Padres the lead right back in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer off Mike Bolsinger. Kemp has 89 RBIs on the season.

The Dodgers tied the score in the second inning on rookie Scott Schebler’s first major league home run, and then the Padres went back in front in the third on Yangervis Solarte’s -- wait for it -- solo homer. At least there was some minor suspense to this one, which was originally ruled a double. The play was reviewed and it was ruled a fan hit the ball over the wall with his glove before it bounced back on the field.

Which all served to set it up for the Dodgers’ three-homer sixth inning.

Bolsinger did not come up with the kind of performance that would demand he replace Mat Latos in the rotation, but it did look pretty familiar. Bolsinger went five innings, giving up three runs on just the two homers. He walked two and struck out six.

This time the bullpen backed him up. The Dodgers used four relievers, only Chris Hatcher giving up a run (on Brett Wallace’s homer). Yimi Garcia, J.P. Howell and Kenley Jansen each threw a scoreless inning.

Rookie phenom Corey Seager went two for five in his second game, including a double and an RBI.