Joe Maddon loves what Ben Zobrist brings to the Chicago Cubs’ locker room.

‘‘He’s this thing that spreads,’’ the manager said.

Maddon can’t complain about what Zobrist is doing on the field lately, either.

Zobrist homered for the third straight game, connecting twice Friday as the streaking Cubs defeated the Washington Nationals, 8-6, at Wrigley for their fifth win in a row.

‘‘Anytime you start feeling good at the plate, it makes the game a lot more fun, especially with a nice warm day and the wind blowing out,’’ Zobrist said. ‘‘I think probably a week ago both of those balls I hit would have been caught.’’

Zobrist drove in four runs for the second consecutive day against the Nationals as the Cubs won for the ninth time in 10 games and improved to a major league-leading 22-6.

That’s the best 28-game start in the National League since the 1977 Los Angeles Dodgers also were 22-6.

Anthony Rizzo added a towering solo homer and Tommy La Stella hit a two-run shot as the Cubs took advantage of the wind blowing out at Wrigley Field.

John Lackey (4-1) struck out 11, one shy of his career high, in seven innings and became the fifth active pitcher with 2,000 career strikeouts.

Hector Rondon pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in as many chances.

Washington began the day 19-9, second-best in baseball. Max Scherzer (3-2) was tagged for seven runs and seven hits in five innings.

‘‘The damage came today from Rizzo and Zobrist,’’ Scherzer said. ‘‘I wasn’t able to contain the lefties in their lineup. When you look at it like that, they do a great job of putting in a good approach against right-handed pitching.’’

Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos homered for Washington.

Lackey became the fifth active pitcher with 2,000 strikeouts when he fanned Jayson Werth in the fourth.

He joined CC Sabathia, Bartolo Colon, Felix Hernandez and Jake Peavy and earned a standing ovation from the Wrigley Field crowd of 39,206.

‘‘I guess it means I’m old and been around awhile, done a few things,’’ said Lackey, 37.

Scherzer hadn’t given up seven runs in a game since joining the Nationals last year. He surrendered 10 in 2014 when he pitched for Detroit against Kansas City.

‘‘I just felt like they had a better approach than I did. I felt like I was predictable, and they were just able to kind of key on that,’’ Scherzer said. ‘‘It’s almost like they had a better understanding of me than me.’’

Scherzer hit an RBI single in the second to give Washington a 2-0 lead.

La Stella tied it with a two-run shot in the second. Rizzo and Zobrist hit back-to-back homers in the fourth for a 4-2 lead.

Rizzo’s 10th homer up toward the flags atop the foul pole in right field was reviewed and upheld.

‘‘I saw it fair, said Rizzo, who teased injured Cubs teammate Kyle Schwarber that it was one of his ‘‘Schwarbombs.’’

Zobrist connected again for his fifth homer, a three-run shot with two outs in the fifth that made it 7-2.

Blue Jays 5, Dodgers 2 — In Toronto, Jose Bautista launched a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Kevin Pillar answered a two-run outburst by Los Angeles in the seventh with a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth off Kevin Blanton.

Indians 7, Royals 1 — In Cleveland, Mike Napoli went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs and sparked a four-run outburst in the fourth that was aided by Jose Ramirez’s three-run double off Kansas City starter Yordano Ventura.

Rangers 5, Tigers 1 — In Detroit, Rougned Odor hit a solo homer off Jordan Zimmerman in the fifth and drove in two more runs on a double to left off reliever Justin Wilson in the ninth to help visiting Texas and starting pitcher Cole Hamels (4-0) prevail.

Marlins 6, Phillies 4 — In Miami, Giancarlo Stanton broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run homer to center field off Philadelphia’s Hector Neris.

Reds 5, Brewers 1 — In Cincinnati, Brandon Phillips had a three-run homer to left field off Milwaukee starter Tyler Cravy (0-1).

Diamondbacks 7, Braves 2 — Brandon Drury’s solo home run off Jim Johnson helped visiting Arizona streak to a 4-0 lead in the top of the sixth, making a winner of Zack Greinke (3-2).

Astros 6, Mariners 3 — Carlos Correa hit a solo homer off Seattle’s Taijuan Walker (2-2) and followed a two-run homer by Marwin Gonzalez in the second with an RBI single in the fifth off to power host Houston.

White Sox 10, Twins 4 — In Chicago, Jose Abreu paced a 14-hit attack with a solo homer in the third and Melky Cabrera and Brett Lawrie had timely RBI singles in the bottom of the fifth for a 7-4 lead.

Pirates 4, Cardinals 2 — Jung Ho Kang hit a pair of solo homers in the sixth and eighth innings — his first two of the season — to propel visiting Pittsburgh to the victory.