Nationals 6, Dodgers 4: Denard Span homered twice and drove in three runs as visiting Washington powered past Los Angeles in the opener of their three-game series.

Jayson Werth and Asdrubal Cabrera added solo homers for Washington, which moved seven games ahead of second-place Atlanta in the National League East. Gio Gonzalez (7-9) allowed three runs and three hits over six innings to snap a nine-start winless drought and three relievers bridged the gap to Rafael Soriano, who yielded a run but struck out pinch-hitter Joc Pederson with runners on the corners and two out in the ninth for his 31st save.

Matt Kemp belted a two-run homer in the first and Juan Uribe also drove in two runs for Los Angeles, which saw its lead over San Francisco in the NL West reduced to two games. Roberto Hernandez (8-10) surrendered a career-high four home runs after allowing just one over his previous 11 starts and exited after yielding five runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Washington, which recorded a total of 10 home runs during its three-game series against Seattle over the weekend, took an early lead on Werth’s two-out solo shot in the first. Kemp's two-run blast in the bottom half gave the Dodgers a brief lead before Cabrera and Span answered with solo homers in the third.

Span, who homered once in his first 122 games this season, made it three in his last five contests with a two-run shot into the right-field seats in the fifth that put the Nationals ahead 5-2. Uribe delivered an RBI single in the seventh and plated another run with a base hit in the ninth before Soriano caught Pederson looking to end the Dodgers' comeback attempt.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Gonzalez retired 16 of the next 17 batters following Kemp’s two-out homer in the first en route to his first win since July 5. … Dodgers 2B Dee Gordon went 0-for-4 and is hitless in his last 18 at-bats. … 3B Anthony Rendon recorded two hits, an RBI and two stolen bases for Washington, which improved to 64-7 when scoring four or more runs.