CHICAGO -- Even John Lackey is running out of reasons to be annoyed.

The Chicago Cubs’ rotation has been baseball’s best all season. It was the best in the first half, when it led the majors with a 3.09 ERA. It has been the best since the All-Star Game, in which time the starters' collective ERA has improved to 2.42. That’s after Lackey limited the Los Angeles Angels to three hits and one run over eight innings in the Cubs’ 5-1 win Tuesday.

“He was good,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “He was really good. That’s how he pitches. He’s aggressive. [Kole Calhoun] went after him, hits a home run. No big deal.”

Chicago has now matched a season high with eight straight wins and has pushed its lead over St. Louis in the National League Central to 12 games. Leaving aside a spot start by former Cub Brian Matusz on July 27, the starters have allowed one run or fewer in eight of the past 11 starts and no more than three in the other outings.

If the Cubs’ starters were Smurfs -- and they do sometimes wear blue -- Lackey might be Grouchy Smurf. But not lately. Even when he is stomping around on the mound, a Cubs clubhouse that blends all types of personalities is able to channel it in the right direction.

“That’s who he is,” Maddon said. “He’s always been that guy. He’s not going to be out there smiling. He’s going to be upset with umpires. He’s going to be upset with his manager. He’s going to be upset with teammates on occasion. That’s just who he is. And when you know that, it’s OK. You love having him on your team.”

Calhoun’s homer off Lackey came in the first inning -- on the third pitch of the game. Lackey retired the next 12 Angels in order, a streak that was nearly longer. In the fifth, Addison Russell ranged into the middle to cut off a Ji-Man Choi grounder and throw him out from his knees, but the call was reversed on replay. No problem. The Angels managed just two more baserunners the rest of the way. Right-handed batters went 0-for-18 against Lackey.

“I thought the mix overall was really good tonight,” Lackey said. “Working with [Willson Contreras], I think we’re starting to get some better results, not as much shaking off. The mix was really good. He called a good game, and I was locating pretty decent.”

Contreras, the Cubs’ rookie catcher, had another sparkling night. He homered in the third inning for the Cubs’ first run. In the sixth, a Lackey pitch dribbled away from him just far enough to convince baserunner Cliff Pennington that he could make second base. But the cat-quick Contreras pushed past Calhoun, who was at the plate, to retrieve the ball and throw Pennington out at second.

“You could see Willson’s talents by throwing the guy out on the bases,” Maddon said. “That was a big play, the ball that Pennington gets thrown out on. Because the next hitter, here comes Calhoun with the base hit. It could have gotten a little bit racy at that point.”

The relationship between the veteran Lackey and the young Contreras is in many respects emblematic of how the Cubs have mixed the products of their loaded farm system with established players brought into the organization. Contreras has worked well with red-hot starter Kyle Hendricks, and now he and Lackey are simpatico. If they weren’t, Lackey surely would let him know.

“You can’t stifle him,” Ben Zobrist said of his emotional teammate. “He’s definitely got to have some emotion out there. He’s been great. That emotion carries over to the rest of the team too. You have to be on your toes out there. He’s one of the biggest competitors on this team.”

All six of Lackey’s strikeout victims were caught looking, which matched the most such outs he has had in a start since 2009, according to ESPN Stats & Information. That might have been the product of secondary pitches that were working well.

“I thought he had an exceptional slider tonight and a really good changeup,” Maddon said. “Those were the two pitches that I thought were as good as I’ve seen [from] him in a while. Fastball is pretty much constant, consistent.”

Here we are, not even two weeks into August, and the Cubs' stranglehold on the division has tightened as their play seems to become more impermeable by the day. The Cardinals’ loss reduced the Cubs’ magic number -- yeah, we’re going there -- to 39.

“This team, our confidence is high right now,” Zobrist said. “We talked about that earlier in the season. You have to try and keep that going as long as you can.

“We still have a lot of games to play, so we’re not watching the scoreboard or anything like that. We’re just trying to come in and play good baseball.”