WASHINGTON – Bryce Harper hit his third home run in two games, Jason Werth homered for the first time since May, and Edwin Jackson struck out 10 Thursday night as the Washington Nationals padded their NL East lead with an 8-1 win over the punchless St. Louis Cardinals.

The Nationals opened an 11-game homestand with an overwhelming performance against a wild-card contender that failed to score an earned run for the third straight game.

Jackson (8-9) was so dominant that three of his strikeouts required throws to first because the Cardinals were chasing balls in the dirt.

Jaime Garcia (3-6) allowed six runs for the Cardinals, whose streak of 28 scoreless innings ended in the eighth.

CUBS 12, BREWERS 11: In Chicago, Jonathan Lucroy hit a grand slam and drove in seven runs for Milwaukee, but Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single capped a three-run comeback in the ninth to lift Chicago.

In a seesaw game featuring a combined 15 extra-base hits, the Cubs led 3-0, trailed 9-3 and were still down 11-9 going into the ninth.

Starlin Castro hit an RBI single against Francisco Rodriguez (2-7), Anthony Rizzo tied it with his second double of the afternoon and Soriano won the game with his one-out drive off the center-field wall.

PHILLIES 3, METS 2: In Philadelphia, Phillies star Jimmy Rollins was benched after a pair of baserunning blunders in a win over New York.

Rollins was pulled for the start of the seventh inning after a pair of mistakes in the sixth. The former NL MVP failed to run hard on a dropped popup that could have put him on second base. He stole second base, then was caught in a rundown on a grounder and was tagged out.

Kyle Kendrick (8-9) gave up solo homers in the first two innings to Mike Baxter and Scott Hairston but did not permit another run before leaving with two outs in the eighth.