SAN DIEGO – Teoscar Hernández made sure to stay back near home plate for a few seconds. He wanted to admire his work for just a little longer. Once the ball finally landed deep over the left-field wall at Petco Park, Hernández finished off his masterpiece with a monster bat flip.

It was all deserved for Hernández, whose grand slam in the sixth inning off right-hander Enyel De Los Santos served as the dagger in the Dodgers’ 5-0 victory over the Padres on Saturday night at a sold-out Petco Park that set a new attendance record with 46,701 fans, a lot of whom were wearing blue.

“Teoscar, obviously, a huge hit tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He has a knack for getting big hits for us. He posts -- plays every day. The production is there, being additive in the clubhouse. He’s definitely exceeded [expectations].”

For five innings, Freddie Freeman was all the offense for the Dodgers. The superstar first baseman hit a solo homer off knuckleballer Matt Waldron in the first inning to open the scoring. In the fourth, Freeman doubled for L.A.'s second hit but was stranded at third base.

Once Waldron came out of the game, however, it was time for the Dodgers to do damage. Against left-hander Adrian Morejon, Shohei Ohtani drew a one-out walk to start the rally. Will Smith walked two batters later. Max Muncy followed with another walk to set the stage for Hernández.

Because Hernández came into Saturday with a .913 OPS against southpaws, the Padres countered with De Los Santos against the Dodgers’ outfielder. De Los Santos started Hernández with a slider on the inside corner. Hernández then swung through a heater up in the zone. But after taking a slider off the plate, Hernández was ready to attack.

On a slider that hung in the heart of the plate, Hernández didn’t miss it, smashing it a Statcast-projected 390 feet for the fourth grand slam of his career but first with the Dodgers. Prior to that at-bat, Hernández was 0-for-6 with four strikeouts against De Los Santos.

“I was just looking to get a hit,” Hernández said. “In my mind, just trying to get a good pitch. He made some good pitches before that one and then hung that slider, and I was waiting for it.”

Hernández, who signed with the Dodgers on a one-year deal, has been one of the most impactful additions this season. With Mookie Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, Muncy and Will Smith often hitting ahead of him, Hernández has had a lot of RBI opportunities. More often than not, Hernández has delivered.

With 11 homers, Hernández is tied with Ohtani for the team lead and second in the National League behind Marcell Ozuna, who has 12. Hernández also leads the Dodgers with 33 RBIs. Only Ozuna (38) has more in the Majors.

“When I signed here, I knew this was going to happen,” Hernández said. “I was going to have a lot of opportunities with men in scoring position or men on base. In my mind, I just try not to do too much, not overthink my swing or anything like that. Just get a good pitch to hit and put it in play.”

While Hernández took care of the offense, it was James Paxton who dominated the Padres on the mound. Paxton has delivered back-to-back stellar starts for the Dodgers, including with six scoreless innings Saturday. As a team, the Dodgers have not allowed more than four runs in 18 consecutive games.

“This is me competing out there,” Paxton said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot. I feel like the usage of the cutter at some point when it comes around will be helpful for some swing and miss. But the curveball was really good tonight, so we used that quite a bit.”

Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani were the offseason acquisitions that stole the headlines. But Paxton and Hernández have both shown how much better the Dodgers are when both contribute at a high level.

“I couldn’t be more pleased with both of those guys and their contributions,” Roberts said.