SAN DIEGO -- The Phillies hammered five home runs Friday night, so they had plenty of opportunity to perfect their dugout celebrations.

No doubt, they put a bit of extra zest into the one for Nick Castellanos.

Castellanos hit his first home run of 2024 to punctuate the Phillies’ 9-3 victory over the Padres in the series opener.

“That was big-time,” said teammate Brandon Marsh, who had a homer of his own, as well as a home run robbery in left field. “It was only a matter of time. I’m excited to see what’s in store for him.”

The Phillies are 17-10. Their pitching rotation is elite, and they got another eight efficient innings from Aaron Nola against the Padres. They’re tied for fourth in homers, with 33. But they’re 12th in runs (122).

The Phillies are not a team of needs, so much as one with slight imperfections. Castellanos’ slow start to the season was one such imperfection. His return to form will lengthen the lineup and make top-to-bottom production such as Friday’s a more common occurrence.

Will homer No. 1 provide the spark?

“Anytime that you get confidence, that you have results, that just builds you up a little bit,” Castellanos said. “It lets you smile a little bit, get the happiness out. Like I said before, happy people hit better.”

Castellanos, in his 11th full MLB season, had never before reached April 26 without a home run, excluding the 2020 pandemic-shortened season that started late. He was batting .177 with only one extra-base hit this season entering Friday. But he spoke three days earlier of better at-bats and knowing he could hit his way out of the slump.

His manager was on board.

“He’s experienced,” Rob Thomson said. “I touch base with him every day, and he feels good about himself. I see his at-bats getting better. He’s working diligently, as hard as anybody. Maybe that gets him going in the right direction.”

Four of the Phillies’ home runs came in the first three innings as they truncated opposing starter Joe Musgrove’s workday. Here’s how the Phillies turned a matchup of rotation workhorses into a laugher:

• Kyle Schwarber led off the game with his 100th home run with the Phillies. He ripped a 2-1 cutter to right-center field, 107.3 mph off the bat, for his 35th career leadoff homer. It was Schwarber’s 342nd game with the club. Only Ryan Howard (325 games) reached 100 in fewer games with Philadelphia.

• Bryce Harper led off the third inning by yanking a full-count slider to right field, with 106.6 mph exit velocity. It was his second homer in two games since he returned from the paternity list.

• Marsh, who was 1-for-8 on the road trip entering the game, hit a two-run homer a few batters later by pulling a 92.2 mph fastball on a 2-1 count. His 105.8 mph drive made him the third lefty to go deep off Musgrove in the game. The right-hander hadn’t given up a homer to a lefty since June 13 last year against Cleveland’s Josh Bell.

• Castellanos went back to back with Marsh, pulling an 0-1 slider to left-center with 99.1 mph exit velocity.

• J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run homer off reliever Tom Cosgrove in the seventh inning for the club’s fifth homer of the game. Alec Bohm had three hits and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest active streak in the Majors.

The five homers were one shy of the single-game best at Petco Park. The 2020 Padres had six in a game twice, and the 2013 Giants hit six against the Padres.

Musgrove has been up and down in 2024, but he had yielded only five homers in six starts before Friday. The Phillies came prepared against his kitchen-sink repertoire.

“Trying not to hit the pitches he wants us to hit,” Marsh said, “and hit the pitches he doesn’t want to hit. We did a good job of that tonight.”