Jon Lester pitched 6⅔ innings of no-hit ball and settled for his second complete game of the season, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the visiting San Francisco Giants, 2-1, Friday at Wrigley Field to move a season-high 40 games over .500.

It coincided with a Major League Baseball initiative that had players and umpires wearing gold sweatbands to raise awareness for childhood cancer.

‘‘It’s a little more special for me and [Anthony Rizzo, a fellow cancer survivor], just with our foundations and what we’ve been through,’’ said Lester, who overcame lymphoma a decade ago. ‘‘He did say the other day I was going to throw a no-hitter on the kids’ strike out cancer day. It would have been pretty cool, but glad we got the win instead.’’

Hunter Pence ended Lester’s bid for a second no-hitter with a homer to left on a 1-2 changeup that cut over the plate.

Brandon Crawford followed with a double, and Lester (15-4) got Eduardo Nunez to line to third. He then worked around Trevor Brown’s one-out double in the eighth.

‘‘We ran into a very hot pitcher who’s throwing the ball very well and he was on top of his game,’’ said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

Lester allowed three hits and walked two. The Cubs have won five straight to improve to 87-47. The last time they were 40 games over .500 was the end of the 1945 season.

‘‘It’s pretty incredible,’’ manager Joe Maddon.

David Ross and Dexter Fowler had RBI hits in the second off Albert Suarez (3-3).

Pence’s second homer in two days ended a 12⅔-innings hitless streak (0 for 40) for San Francisco.

The Giants are a major league-worst 15-29 since the All-Star break.

Lester walked Buster Posey with two outs in the first inning and followed by setting down 18 straight while getting some help.

Third baseman Kris Bryant made a diving, backhand grab of Crawford’s liner to lead off the fifth and Dexter Fowler made a sliding catch of Kelby Tomlinson’s liner to center an inning later.

‘‘Our defense has been fun to watch all year, and it makes our jobs a lot easier,’’ Lester said.

The 32-year-old Lester threw a no-hitter on May 19, 2008, for Boston against Kansas City. That came less than two years after he was diagnosed with cancer.

He acknowledged he started thinking about a second one after the first inning and added, ‘‘Anybody that tells you different is lying.’’

The rookie Suarez, in his ninth start, allowed three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings.

Lester struck out Crawford looking with a runner on first for his fourth strikeout to end it on his 102nd pitch.

‘‘I think the big thing was they were aggressive,’’ Lester said. ‘‘I was able to keep the ball down and keep the defense active today.’’

Rizzo reflected on his triumphant battle over Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

“Obviously come a long way,’’ said Rizzo, whose foundation has raised about $2 million to support families of children with cancer and cancer research. ‘‘Done a lot of good things on the baseball field, but way more better things off the field.’’

Rays 8, Blue Jays 3 — Alex Cobb went five solid innings in his first start in two years after coming back from Tommy John surgery last year, Logan Morrison hit a go-ahead two-run homer, and host Tampa Bay beat AL East-leading Toronto.

Cobb allowed two runs and four hits in his first appearance since Sept 28, 2014, at Cleveland and struck out seven — six looking — and retired his final 10 batters.

Morrison put the Rays up 4-2 in sixth on his 12th homer off Marcus Stroman (9-6).

Luke Maile hit a solo homer and Kevin Kiermaier had an RBI triple off Francisco Liriano before Brad Miller added a two-run shot against Ryan Tepera in a four-run seventh that made it 8-2.

All three batters Liriano faced in his first relief appearances with Toronto after four starts scored.

Danny Farquhar (1-0) worked a scoreless sixth for the win.

Edwin Encarnacion had an RBI double and Russell Martin picked up his 22nd RBI in his last 16 games on an infield single as the Blue Jays went up 2-0 in the first.

Eddie Gamboa, a 31-year old knuckleballer, made his major league debut and loaded the bases on a single and two walks in the eighth before departing with one out. The Blue Jays were able to score just once on Troy Tulowitzki’s grounder off Brad Boxberger.

Orioles 8, Yankees 0 — Mark Trumbo hit his major league-leading 41st homer to cap a six-run second inning, and Baltimore peppered New York with four long balls.

Pedro Alvarez and Chris Davis hit two-run homers in the second and Manny Machado added a two-run shot in the fourth.

The Orioles lead the majors with 213 home runs, including 117 at home.

When Alvarez went deep, the Orioles became the 19th team in big league history to have six players hit at least 20 in the same season. Alvarez joins Trumbo, Machado (33), Davis (33), Adam Jones (24) and Jonathan Schoop (21).

Dylan Bundy (8-5) allowed two hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings. In his previous start, the righthander took the loss Saturday at Yankee Stadium after giving up five runs and seven hits in four innings.

Indians 6, Marlins 2 — Carlos Carrasco struck out 11 in 7⅓ scoreless innings and host Cleveland defeated Miami for its fourth straight win.

Carrasco posted the 10th double-digit strikeout game of his career, three this season.

White Sox 11, Twins 4 — Todd Frazier homered for the second straight game, Adam Eaton had four hits and Carlos Rodon recorded his career-high fourth straight win as visiting Chicago ended a four-game losing streak in Minneapolis.

Nationals 4, Mets 1 — Bryce Harper hit two doubles and became the latest player to steal a base against Noah Syndergaard, helping A.J. Cole post his first major league win as Washington beat New York.

The Nationals won their fourth in a row and increased their NL East bulge over the wild card-contending Mets to 10½ games.

Cleveland scored three times in the first and once in the second off Andrew Cashner (4-11). Abraham Almonte’s two-run double pushed the lead to 6-0 in the fifth.

J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run homer off Jeff Manship in the eighth for Miami, which has lost six of seven.

Like a lot of teams, the Nationals came out running on Syndergaard, swiping four bases in the early innings. Tall and slow to the plate, he’s had 45 runners steal with him on the mound — the most against any pitcher since Hideo Nomo in 2001, ESPN Stats & Info said.

Only six runners have been caught with Syndergaard pitching. Before the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said Syndergaard had improved at holding runners on base.

Reds 3, Cardinals 2 — Eugenio Suarez singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to help host Cincinnati snap a four-game losing streak.

Braves 8, Phillies 4 — Freddie Freeman hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the ninth, Matt Kemp had four RBIs and Atlanta defeated host Philadelphia.

Rangers 10, Astros 8 — Carlos Beltran and Rougned Odor each hit two-run homers and Jonathan Lucroy added a solo shot in a seven-run outburst in the fourth that sparked host Texas.

Tigers 7, Royals 6 — Miguel Cabrera went 3 for 5 and drove in four runs, including a pair of decisive scores in the top of ninth, to rally visiting Detroit over Kansas City.

Rockies 14, Diamondbacks 7 — Nick Hundley’s grand slam ignited a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the eighth that enabled host Colorado to snap a 7-7 tie.

Brewers 1, Pirates 0 — Junior Guerra's return from the DL lasted less than four innings, but six Milwaukee relievers picked up the slack as host Pittsburgh lost its fourth in a row.

Guerra left after 70 pitches over 3⅓ innings in his first start since going on the DL with right elbow inflammation Aug. 8

Blaine Boyer (2-3) pitched a scoreless fifth to pick up the win. Tyler Thornburg worked the ninth for his seventh save. Scooter Gennett drove in Milwaukee’s only run with an RBI-double in the sixth off Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon (3-4).