SAN DIEGO — It couldn’t be easy. Not this Padres team. Certainly not this series.

A return of dominant Dylan Cease and six RBIs by Kyle Higashioka had the Padres in position to cruise to a rout on Wednesday afternoon before the Nationals scored five runs in the ninth inning.

The Padres did finish off an 8-5 victory, and when it was done it still was the tamest of the three games in the series.

Higashioka started and finished the Padres’ damage offensively, hitting a two-run homer in the second inning and a grand slam in the eighth.

The Padres’ seventh victory in eight games concluded a 5-1 homestand, their best record in a stay at Petco Park since they went 9-1 from June 17-27, 2021.

Wednesday also wrapped up a three-game sweep of the Nationals.

Even with Tom Cosgrove and Adrián Morejón unable to efficiently end the game, Higashioka’s career-high six RBIs and Cease shutting out the Nationals on one hit over seven innings mostly made the finale a respite from the chaos.

On Monday, the Padres came back from three runs down in the 10th inning to win 7-6 on Jurickson Profar’s walk-off single.

And Tuesday made that seem boring.

The benches cleared in Tuesday’s first inning when Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz let Profar know the Nationals did not appreciate his celebration from the night before. Profar was then hit by a pitch, and Manny Machado followed with a two-run homer.

The Padres lost the lead two innings later, then came back and held on to win, 9-7, with the decisive blow being a grand slam by Profar.

Profar drove in another run Wednesday, on a single in the fourth inning that made it 4-0. That followed a leadoff double by Eguy Rosario, a single by Higashioka and a wild pitch by Nationals starter DJ Herz (1-2, 5.48) which allowed Rosario to run home.

The Padres improved to 44-41. The only other time they have been that far above .500 was June 1, at 32-29.

For all that, arguably the best development for the Padres on Wednesday was that Cease (7-6, 3.84) pitched like it was early May again.

The right-hander had begun the season (and his time with the Padres) by posting a 2.19 ERA and allowing a .128 batting average over his first eight starts. In his next eight starts, leading up to Wednesday, he had a 6.43 ERA and opponents were batting .299 against him.

On Wednesday, he went seven innings for the first time since his eighth start. He also allowed one hit in that game, May 8 against the Cubs.

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