ATLANTA -- A split would’ve been just fine.

The Padres were on the road, in one of the sport’s toughest environments, against one of the sport’s most complete teams. The two biggest weapons at the back of their bullpen were unavailable, and they’d already won two of the first three. They could’ve boarded their flight to New York early Monday morning perfectly content with a split of four games against the Braves at Truist Park this weekend.

But these Padres clearly had no intention to settle for a split. These Padres showed up to make a statement.

Statement made.

The first three games of this series were gripping, tense and decided by the finest of margins. The finale became a laugher -- a 10-2 Padres victory on Sunday Night Baseball. Nelson Cruz, Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim all went deep. Seth Lugo pitched six innings of one-run ball.

“We haven’t had any [games] like this this year,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Every one’s been kind of a dogfight. To be able to put a little distance -- we have the ability to score a bunch of runs and at times get these types of games -- it was nice to finally get one.”

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Prior to the game, Melvin faced all manner of questions regarding which relievers might pitch the game’s high-leverage moments. Josh Hader and Luis García were unavailable. Steven Wilson had pitched on Saturday and multiple innings in Thursday’s opener.

Instead, the Padres so thoroughly dispatched the Braves on Sunday that those answers never came.

"I knew how the bullpen was feeling, and I was really determined to get six,” said Lugo.

Added Melvin: "Games like this, we can get our bullpen back in order a little bit.”

It’d be foolish to proclaim any series in April as anything more than what it is: a series in April. But the Padres delivered in nearly every way after they lost in walk-off fashion in the opener.

They responded Friday by holding off multiple Braves rallies, winning a one-run game late. On Saturday, Michael Wacha was at his vintage best, and the Padres did just enough at the plate.

If those victories were about resilience, Sunday’s was a show of force. The Padres built a juggernaut, perhaps the best offense in baseball. This is what it’s capable of.

"Today, definitely, we showed up,” said Cruz. “It was nice to see the whole lineup do damage, score runs. Makes it fun.”

Cruz broke the game open in the third inning when he wallopped a three-run homer into the left-field seats, giving the Padres a 4-0 lead. At 42 years, 282 days old, he was one day shy of equaling Rickey Henderson as the franchise’s oldest player to hit a home run.

Suffice to say, Cruz will get his chance to best that mark. So far, he’s been a revelation in a platoon at DH with the lefty-hitting Matt Carpenter.

Cruz pounded out three hits and six RBIs on Sunday night. He had three hits on Friday as well. On Thursday and Saturday? He didn’t play. Such is the nature of the Padres’ depth this season -- a serious point of emphasis during the winter.

“It shows how deep we are as a team,” Cruz said. “The commitment that we have to come and win three out of four against the Braves, it tells a lot.”

Over the course of the next two innings, the Padres left no doubt. Grisham demolished his third home run of the season on the first pitch of the fourth. Kim launched a two-run homer in the fifth. The Padres were on their way to a rout of the reigning NL East champs, the team projected by FanGraphs for the highest 2023 win total in the Majors.

The early performances of Grisham and Kim should scare fellow NL contenders plenty. The Padres lineup is loaded enough without those two hitting. Grisham and Kim are valuable enough based on their elite glovework alone.

Then again, there’s a higher ceiling for both at the plate. Through 10 games in 2023, they both look capable of reaching it.

Indeed, these are the 2023 Padres -- a complete roster from the superstars down through the bottom of the lineup and into the bench.

And speaking of superstars … Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled and had two walks in a rehab game for Triple-A El Paso on Sunday. He’s due back in 11 days.

"Once he comes back, we’re going to be even stronger, even more fun to watch,” said Kim through Korean interpreter Leo Bae.

A scary proposition for the rest of the NL.