SAN DIEGO -- One strong homestand couldn't possibly remedy everything that went wrong for the Padres in the first half this year. But as they arrived at Petco Park on Monday following a wholly disheartening 1-5 road trip through Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, they insisted it could at least get things headed in the right direction.

"Restart," said a resolute Juan Soto. "That's what we've got to do. Forget about what happened in this first half. Try to finish strong these last couple games. And come back stronger in the second half."

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Sure enough, the homestand is off to the start -- or restart -- the Padres were hoping for. They beat the Angels, 10-3, on Monday night in the first of six games at Petco Park leading into the All-Star break. It was the type of victory that offered a reminder of what still might be possible for a team with as much star power as this one. 

Xander Bogaerts homered and reached base in all four plate appearances. Blake Snell pitched five scoreless innings. Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits. Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth had two apiece.

“Winning any way would’ve been nice,” Bogaerts said. “But this is one that I feel like everyone chipped in. … In the end, we were solid offensively, defensively, pitching.”

Of course, these Padres have tantalized before. They’ve won big. They've flashed their star power. They just haven’t done it frequently enough – and when they have, they've tended to follow with two proverbial steps back.

It was only 10 days ago that the Padres notched consecutive 10-run victories over the Giants and Nationals. They proclaimed themselves on course, then followed with consecutive losses to last-place Washington before a road trip that, clearly, they’d like to get out of their system as quickly as possible.

To that end, a win like this one helps.

“It means that we can not have to think about that anymore,” manager Bob Melvin said. “I mean, that was miserable, a really miserable trip. Feel-good game tonight.”

Right off the bat, too. With two outs in the bottom of the first inning Jaime Barria tried to sneak a fastball past Bogaerts on the inner edge at the top of the strike zone. Bogaerts, who has struggled with that particular location, turned on the pitch and launched a towering three-run homer to the deepest reaches of the Western Metal Building’s first level.

“That was a really good one, man,” Bogaerts said. “That felt good off the bat.”

Just like that, Snell had his cushion. The National League’s newly minted June Pitcher of the Month wasn’t at his absolute best. Yet he still managed to stifle the Angels and keep them off the board.

In the process, Snell lowered his ERA to 3.03, amid a remarkable eight-start stretch in which that number sits at a minuscule 0.77. Earlier in the day, Dodgers All-Star Clayton Kershaw landed on the injured list, perhaps clearing a place on the NL pitching staff. Hey, Snell is headed home to Seattle next week one way or another.

“Yeah, it would mean a lot playing in your hometown for an All-Star Game,” Snell said. “So if I am [named], I’d be really excited.”

Things got dicey following Snell’s departure. Domingo Tapia surrendered a pair of runs in the sixth. Tom Cosgrove cleaned up that mess by punching out Shohei Ohtani with a filthy slider, before Hunter Renfroe later flied out to left with the bases loaded.

From there, the Padres tacked on in a major way -- two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and one in the eighth. Tatis had hits in all three innings, including an two-RBI triple in the seventh. After overtaxing their bullpen in Cincinnati, the Padres needed precisely that kind of outburst (even if they were still forced to use closer Josh Hader in the ninth because, frankly, he was their last arm available).

“Our bullpen’s a little beat up right now, and we’re probably using some guys in some situations that we don’t normally,” Melvin said. “So, yeah, that was big that we opened it up a little bit and didn’t have to grind on every pitch.”

It was a needed blowout victory at exactly the right time, with 45,000-plus on hand to help San Diego forget about its tribulations on the road. Of course, none of it changed the Padres’ standing.

They’re still fourth in the NL West, still further from playoff contention -- now seven games out -- than they ever thought they’d be. But with nearly half a season remaining, it was at least a start. Or, as Soto so earnestly put it, a restart.