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LOS ANGELES -- Gio Gonzalez picked a good time to earn his first victory for Washington in the second half, coming against a talented Dodgers lineup the Nationals could see in the post-season. Backed by four homers, including two from Denard Span, Gonzalez snapped his five-game skid with a 6-4 victory on Monday night in a matchup of division leaders. Gonzalez (7-9) allowed three runs and three hits in six-plus innings. The left-hander hadnt won since beating the Cubs on July 5. He had a 4.38 ERA in his previous nine games. He also doubled and scored on Anthony Rendons double off Brandon League in the seventh. "My velocity was where I wanted it to be," Gonzalez said. "I was attacking the strike zone, fastball, curveball, changeup, it was all working. Especially in a game like this with that lineup, its definitely not easy." The East-leading Nationals (78-58) own the NLs best record while the Dodgers (77-61) are atop the West and close behind in pursuit of the top seed, despite losing for the third time in four games. "We need to win games," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. Rafael Soriano pitched a shaky ninth to earn his 31st save. He yielded an RBI single to Juan Uribe, after the ball skipped by the mound and caromed off second base, allowing Yasiel Puig to score. The Dodgers then had runners on the corners with two outs but Joc Pederson took a called third strike in his major league debut. Roberto Hernandez (2-2) gave up five runs and five hits -- including a career-high four homers -- in 4 1-3 innings. The right-hander came in 2-0 against the Nationals, having allowed just an unearned run in 15 1-3 innings in two starts against them while pitching for Philadelphia before being acquired by the Dodgers last month. "It surprised me a lot," Hernandez said through a translator. "I didnt have command of my pitches from the first inning. It was just a matter of things not working for me. It wasnt that I had lost confidence." The Nationals ended August with 40 homers, second-best in the major leagues behind Baltimore. They picked up where they left off to start the final month of the regular season, with Jayson Werth and Asdrubal Cabrera adding solo shots. Spans second homer, a two-run shot on the first pitch he faced in the fifth, extended Washingtons lead to 5-2. That chased Hernandez, who had walked Cabrera to start the inning before striking out Gonzalez. "I really cant explain it, other than home runs come in bulk and Ive been seeing the ball pretty good," Span said. Werth hit his 16th homer with two outs in the first. The Dodgers then got a two-out homer in the bottom half from Matt Kemp to take a 2-1 lead. Asdrubal Cabrera tied it at 2 with a leadoff drive in the third. One batter later, Span hit his first homer of the game. LONG SPAN It was Spans second career multihomer game. His first came on Sept. 13, 2008. His three RBIs were a season high. He is batting .360 in 43 games since the All-Star break. STREAKING KEMP The outfielder was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and the two-run homer, his 17th of the season. He has 10 RBIs in his last nine games, batting .361 since Aug. 22. His 174 career homers are three behind Mike Piazza for fourth on the Dodgers career list. TRAINERS ROOM Nationals: 1B Adam LaRoche left in the fifth after straining his lower back during an at-bat. He is day to day. ... OF Steven Souza Jr. (left shoulder) returned from rehab and was reinstated to the active roster. He was named International League MVP last week, having led the league in nearly every offensive category. Dodgers: RHP Chris Perez (bone spurs, right ankle) was reinstated from the 15-day DL after making five rehab appearances with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. INF Carlos Triunfel was designated for assignment. CALL-UPS Nationals: With rosters expanding Monday, Washington recalled RHP Aaron Barrett, LHP Xavier Cedeno, C Sandy Leon, INF-OF Tyler Moore and RHP Blake Treinen from Triple-A Syracuse. Dodgers: Los Angeles recalled C Tim Federowicz, RHP Yimi Garcia, and INF-OF Alex Guerrero from Triple-A Albuquerque and selected the contract of OF Pederson from Albuquerque. Guerrero struck out as a pinch hitter and Garcia made his major league debut in the eighth, allowing one hit and striking out two in two scoreless innings. UP NEXT Nationals: RHP Doug Fister (12-5, 2.55 ERA) is 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA in his last three starts. Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw (16-3, 1.73) starts. Among NL pitchers with at least 15 decisions, Kershaw and Fister (.706) rank first and second in winning percentage. Custom New England Patriots Jerseys . The 36-year-old Colts receiver is going back to the playoffs as a division champion. Patriots Jerseys 2020 . The 155th edition of the Plate for Canadian-foaled three-year-olds, the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America, will be televised live on TSN in HD (High Definition) in a special presentation from 4:30 – 6:00 pm ET. Post time is 5:38 pm. https://www.patriotsjerseysale.com/.S. international midfielder Michael Bradley is complete. Wholesale Patriots Jerseys . The incident occurred at 6:28 of the first period in Anaheims 6-3 home win over Dallas on Sunday. Garbutt left the penalty box and skated at Penner before leaving his skates to deliver a check. New England Patriots Gear . - Whether its because of her improved play or the reason for it, Michelle Wie appears as comfortable on and off the golf course as at any time in her career.Saracens full-back Alex Goode believes the heartbreak of England’s early World Cup exit on home soil has helped spur English players to greater heights this season. England became the first host nation in World Cup history to bow out in the pool stages following defeats to Wales and Australia at Twickenham.That prompted the Rugby Football Union to part ways with head coach Stuart Lancaster but his successor Eddie Jones has helped revitalise the English game leading his side to Englands first Six Nations Grand Slam title since 2003, earlier this year. English teams have built on that success in Europe with five teams progressing to the European Champions Cup quarter-finals and three - Saracens, Wasps and Leicester - progressing to the last four.Goode said to Sky Sports News HQ: Maybe with the English sides, there was an element of frustration from the World Cup. Players just wanted to get out there and play well.I think over the last couple of years there has been a few unlucky sides who have come just short. Last year (Saracens) came just short in the semi-finals by a very fine margin. (English rugby) hasnt just revolutionised over a couple of months but it is great to see English teams doing so well.There were five in the quarter-finals and it sets a good precedent at the moment. English teams are doing well and the Grand Slam was fantastic. Hopefully year on year, teams get better and better and we can keep pushing. Wasps forward James Haskell thinks their European Champions Cup semi final against Saracens will be more like a test match At least one English side is guaranteed to contest the final at the Grand Stade de Lyon on May 14 with Saracens set to meet Wasps in the semi-finals at the Madjeski Stadium on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD.Sarries havve come agonisingly short in this competition in recent seasons, losing to Toulon in the final two years ago and coming up just short in the last four, against Clermont 12 months ago.ddddddddddddWhile those losses were painful, Goode feels they will stand to help Saracens when they meet Wasps.We are lucky because we can draw on some big experiences over the last few years, Goode said. We have had some semi-finals and finals. We have grown as a team quite a lot.We talked about how we didnt start as well as we could have against Northampton but hopefully we have rectified that and we will come out of the blocks nice and hard in this game. Joe Launchbury says Wasps wont change their style of play when they face Saracens in the all-English semi final of rugbys European Champions Cup The last time these sides met on February 14, Wasps pummelled Saracens on their own ground as they ran in eight tries en route to a 23-64 victory at Allianz Park.That game fell during the Six Nations however, when both sides were without their international players, and Goode feels the outcome will be different this time around.They are a very dangerous side, Goode admitted. We are under no illusions. We have got a lot of respect for how they play and what they did at Allianz Park.But we also know we are a top side. We have been here before. We can bring something to the game which other teams cant bring either.We will be very focused as to their individual threats that are very dangerous but as a collective unit we are hoping we can get on top and hopefully get a victory. Also See: Champions Cup fixtures Champions Cup standings Rugby on Sky Sky Sports pundits ' ' '