LOS ANGELES — There’s no secret the Dodgers went into Thursday’s off-day looking for some answers. As they continue to wait for reinforcements to be activated from the injured list, the Dodgers have struggled to find much consistency over the last couple of months.

When a team is looking for a spark, it usually turns to its best players to provide it. Luckily for the Dodgers, they still have Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, two of the biggest stars in the Majors, who can lead the way any given night.

That’s exactly what the two former Most Valuable Players did on Friday, each delivering early homers that helped jump-start the Dodgers’ offense to a much-needed 9-5 win over the Pirates at Dodger Stadium.

Freeman got the Dodgers started right away, hitting a solo homer off Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller in the first inning. For Freeman, it was his first homer since returning after a nine-day absence as he tended to a family emergency regarding his youngest son, Maximus.

Since returning, Freeman has given the Dodgers exactly what they missed without him, recording at least one hit in all four games. On Friday, Freeman reached base safely three times.

In the third, it was Ohtani’s turn to do some damage. Ohtani, who has struggled a bit as of late, especially once he gets into two-strike counts, smashed a Statcast-projected 448-foot two-run homer off Keller on a 1-2 slider that hung in the zone.