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. Air Force 1 Replica . -- Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu will be the Dodgers starting pitchers in their two-game season-opening series in Australia against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Air Force 1 China . With Washington teammate Nene drawing double-teams coming off his big game against the Lakers, Gortat scored 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 100-92 win in overtime over Milwaukee on Wednesday night. https://www.cheapairforce1outlet.com/ . Marie rink got back in the win column at the Olympic mens curling tournament with a 7-4 win over the host Russian squad on Wednesday. Air Force 1 Online . -- John Senden never imagined it would take more than seven years to win again. Air Force 1 Clearance . Scotlands Greg Laidlaw made one of two penalty kicks and all three conversions, and Stuart Hogg added a try in the second half. "The most important thing to come out of the game is that we did not get scored against," Laidlaw said.LONDON -- Milos Raonic rose three spots to No. 6 the ATP mens tennis rankings, while fellow Canadian Eugenie Bouchard also reached a career high as she moved up six spots to No. 7 on the womens WTA list. Wimbledon doubles champion Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver also made a big jump, surging from No. 94 to No. 33 in the mens doubles rankings. Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., made the jump after advancing to Saturdays Wimbledon womens final, where she fell 6-3, 6-0 to Petra Kvitova. Bouchard, a former junior Wimbledon champion, is the first Canadian to reach a senior singles Grand Slam final. With the jump, Bouchard surpassed Carling Bassett-Seguso as the highest ranked Canadian in WTA history. Kvitovas second Wimbledon title allowed her to improve two places to No. 4. The top three places on the WTA Tour did not change, with Serena Williams at No. 1, Li Na at No. 2, and Simona Halep at No. 3. On the mens side, Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., jumped to No. 6 after reaching the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career, where he fell 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to Roger Federer. Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic replaced Rafael Nadal at No. 1, while runner-up Federer rose one spot to No. 3. "It means a lot at this stage of my career," said Djokovic, who was last in the top spot nine months ago. This is his 102nd week atop the mens raankings overall, the eighth most in history.dddddddddddd In all, there were eight changes in the top 10 a day after Djokovic beat Federer 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 for his second championship at the All England Club and seventh Grand Slam title. The 27-year-old Serb first reached No. 1 after earning the 2011 Wimbledon trophy. Hes also the first man to qualify for the 2014 season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, earning a berth for the eighth consecutive year. Djokovic has won that event three times, including in 2012 and 2013. Andy Murray dropped five ranking spots to No. 10 on Monday by losing in the quarter-finals a year after becoming the first British man since 1936 to win Wimbledon. Federer, who was bidding for a record eighth title at the grass-court major tournament, swapped places with Swiss countryman Stan Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, who slid to No. 4. The other losing Wimbledon semifinalists, Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, rose four spots to No. 9. The biggest jump in the top 100 was made by Nick Kyrgios, the 19-year-old Australian who beat Nadal in the fourth round last week. Kyrgios went from 144th to a career-best 66th, a 78-place rise. Pospisil teamed with American Jack Sock to beat brothers Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the Wimbledon mens doubles final. ' ' '