[mlbvideo id=”256199683″ width=”550″ height=”308″ /]

By Jon Weisman

It’s unlikely Adrian Gonzalez’s eighth-inning at-bat will be remembered in the fall. But heading into summer sabbatical, it sure was welcome.

Following A.J. Ellis’ second homer in as many starts in the fifth inning, and followed by Kenley Jansen’s perfect ninth inning, Gonzalez’s two-run home run off lefty Will Smith on the last day before the All-Star Break made the difference in the Dodgers’ 4-3 victory Sunday over Milwaukee.

Los Angeles enters its four-day vacation with a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League West — tied with Kansas City for the largest divisional lead in the Majors — the fourth-best record in the Major Leagues and a 92-win pace for the regular season.

The Dodgers will open the second half Friday at Washington, baseball’s No. 5 team, with what figure to be some fantastic pitching matchups. The Dodgers haven’t announced their post-break rotation, but the plan to separate Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke could lead to them starting Friday and Sunday, with Max Scherzer and Jordan Zimmermann among those waiting in the wings.

Gonzalez had gone 0 for 11 since his last hit, a two-run homer Thursday against Philadelphia, before hitting his 18th round-tripper of the season, the most for him at the All-Star Break since 2010.

The home run — the 280th of his career — was his first ever off a left-handed reliever on an 0-2 count.

Justin Turner went 3 for 4 and drove in the Dodgers’ first run.

Brett Anderson didn’t get the win — because why would the guy doing most of the pitching in a victory get the win? However, he did complete seven innings of three-run ball, giving him 108 innings on the season with a 3.17 ERA. That’s a career-high innings total for before the All-Star Break, and only 4 1/3 innings shy of the second-highest total of his career.