WASHINGTON, July 5 - The streaking Chicago Cubs won for the 11th time in 13 games and closed in on the National League Central lead with a 4-2 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

Former National Daryle Ward had two hits and drove in a pair of runs for the Cubs, who are a Major League best 21-10 since June 3.

Mike Fontenot added three hits for the Cubs, now just 4 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the division lead after handing Washington its eighth loss in the past 10 games.

Chicago manager Lou Piniella, however, remains unconcerned about the standings at the moment.

"The standings take care of themselves when you play good consistent ball," Piniella told reporters.

"I've been saying that.

"I don't look at the standings too much. I know if we win series, good things are going to happen and that's what we're trying to do."

The Cubs took three of the four games in the series.

Will Ohman (1-4) got two outs in the sixth inning to get credit for the win, the second of five Chicago pitchers. Bob Howry pitched a scoreless ninth for his fourth save, completing the seven-hitter.

Jacque Jones also had two hits for the Cubs, who had 11 hits off five Washington pitchers.

Reliever Luis Ayala (0-1) took the loss, charged with two runs on three hits in the seventh inning, Fontenot's run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly by Ward drove in the go-ahead runs.

Felipe Lopez, Ryan Zimmerman and Dmitri Young all had two hits for the Nationals, who have the second worst record in the NL at 34-51.

*The Milwaukee Brewers lost their third straight game as Adam LaRoche homered twice in a 6-3 win for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

*Kim Byung-hyun won his first game since May 28 as the Florida Marlins edged the San Diego Padres 3-2. Kim (4-4) allowed two runs on three hits over 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.

*The defending World Series champion St Louis Cardinals improved to .500 at home with a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Juan Encarnacion hit a three-run for the Cards, who are 39-43.

*The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants 6-3 as Barry Bonds was held to a single, leaving him on 751 career home runs, still four shy of matching Hank Aaron's all-time record.