CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs are closing in on the NL Central championship and have their sights set on another deep playoff run.

It sure would help if Kyle Hendricks keeps pitching like this. They’ll take a few more big home runs from Kris Bryant, too.

Hendricks went eight innings in another strong start, Bryant connected and the Cubs moved closer to the division title while dealing another hit to St. Louis’ playoff hopes, beating the Cardinals 8-4 on Friday.

“This is what you look for,” Hendricks said. “These are the games you want to play in, games that have meaning like this. That’s why we play the game. Hopefully, we’ve got a lot of these left.”

The Cubs came into the final weekend of the regular season with a franchise-record fourth straight trip to the postseason assured and their third division title in a row in sight. They remained one game ahead of Milwaukee, which beat Detroit 6-5 on Friday night.

The Cubs can clinch the NL Central on Saturday — and home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs — with a win and a Brewers loss.

St. Louis matched a season high with its fourth straight loss, after being swept by Milwaukee this week. The Cardinals trail Los Angeles by two games for the second NL wild card after the Dodgers won 3-1 in San Francisco late Friday night.

With two games remaining, one more St. Louis loss or Los Angeles win would eliminate the Cardinals from postseason contention.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Miles Mikolas (17-4, 2.94 ERA) looks to win his fifth straight start, after holding San Francisco to two runs and two hits in seven innings on Sunday.

Cubs: LHP Cole Hamels (4-2, 2.47) tries to shake off back-to-back losses after going 4-0 in his first nine starts for Chicago following a trade from Texas. He homered against Pittsburgh on Monday but got outpitched by Jameson Taillon.