SAN DIEGO – The first two games of the Dodgers’ series in San Diego this weekend drew the 23rd and 24th sellout crowds of the season for the Padres, tying the most in a season at Petco Park.

Many of those tickets were no doubt bought long ago in anticipation of a gripping September series between two teams fighting for supremacy in the NL West.

Well, at least there were still tacos.

Freddie Freeman had four hits and drove in four runs as the Dodgers moved a step closer to clinching their ninth NL West title in the past 10 years by rolling over the San Diego Padres 8-4 Saturday night.

It was the 53rd of their 95 victories this season in which the Dodgers outscored their opponent by four or more runs — and dropped their magic number to clinch the division to four.

The Dodgers could clinch a postseason berth on Sunday and the division title as early as Tuesday in Arizona.

If they clinch the division by the end of this road trip next Sunday, it will be the earliest they have secured the division title during this decade of dominance. The previous earliest clinch came in 2019 when they secured the division in the 146th game of the season (and finished 21 games up on the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks).

“I think we all know what kind of lead we have,” Freeman said. “But if you start looking at that … leads can evaporate if you get a little relaxed. I like the way we’re playing games. Even yesterday’s game was just a good baseball game. We’ve just got to keep the foot on the pedal until we clinch it and whenever we do clinch it just keep going after that too.”

Manny Machado hit a pair of solo home runs off Dodgers starter Julio Urias Saturday. But the rest of the Padres’ lineup went quietly. Urias allowed just three other hits, walked two and struck out five.

“He’s been unbelievable, man,” Trea Turner said of Urias. “I’ve seen it from the other side. I don’t think people see the ball really well off him. He’s got three good pitches. He competes. He drops down a little bit every once in awhile. But his stuff’s been electric lately. I feel like fastball’s been really, really good. He just gets people to just miss here and there. I think he’s really good too, when he gets in trouble or when he makes a mistake, in picking himself up and making the next pitch. I think he’s really, really good at that. And that’s hard to do.”

Urias put that to the test in the first inning.  His two walks helped load the bases in the first inning when just 10 of his first 21 pitches were strikes. He struck out Jake Cronenworth to escape that threat unharmed and only had trouble with Machado the rest of the way, getting through seven innings on just 83 pitches.

The two runs were the most Urias allowed in a start since July 29 in Colorado. He hasn’t given up more than two in a start since July 10.

Now 16-7, Urias’ ERA (2.30) is the lowest among qualified National League pitchers and his WHIP (0.95) is second only to Arizona’s Zac Gallen (0.92), making an even stronger case for the NL Cy Young Award than he did as a 20-game winner last season.

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“I’m having a hard time coming up with adjectives to describe him and what he’s done for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“I certainly don’t have a vote. But it’s hard to ignore what this guy does for a championship caliber ball club. You’re talking Cy Young. He wasn’t an All-Star this year for some ridiculous reason. So to be able to be in that Cy Young conversation, I think that’s the floor.”

The Dodgers’ offense needed time to get going against a former Cy Young winner, Padres left-hander Blake Snell.

They got some help to score a run in the third inning when Padres center fielder Jose Azocar and right fielder Juan Soto pulled up short on Trea Turner’s drive into the gap, looking at each other as the ball landed cleanly and bounced to the wall for a triple. Freeman cashed that in with a two-out RBI single.

Two innings later, the Dodgers kicked it into gear and drove Snell from the game with a four-run burst. Turner found another gap this time, driving a bases-loaded double off the wall in left-center field. The three runs that scored ran Turner’s RBI total for the season to 94.

Freeman drove Turner in with a double of his own – his major league-leading and career-high 45th double of the season.

In the seventh, the Dodgers broke it open with another multi-run inning, scoring twice on a Freeman home run and again on an RBI single by Chris Taylor.

After ending a stretch of 87 plate appearances without a home run by going deep against the Giants on Monday, Freeman has three home runs in five games – and 10 hits in his past 19 at-bats.

“Freddie’s just been just so consistent with his at-bat quality, all phases of the game,” Roberts said. “Even yesterday, I thought he’s swung the bat really well and only had a hit to show for it, the homer (in Friday’s loss). But tonight just came back, taking great at-bats, using the big part of the field. Walks, slug, everything.”