Ryan Zimmerman homered and drove in three runs, Stephen Strasburg won his National League-leading 17th game and Trea Turner also homered as the Washington Nationals cruised to a 6-2 win over the host Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Howie Kendrick went 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored and Zimmerman also had three hits for Washington (80-64), which won for just the second time in seven games. The Nationals maintained a 3 1/2 game lead over Milwaukee for the final wild-card spot.

Strasburg (17-6), who broke a tie with Atlanta's Max Fried for most wins in the National League, gave up two runs on four hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out seven. Houston's Justin Verlander leads the majors with 18 victories.

Jorge Polanco homered and had two hits, Luis Arraez went 3-for-5 with a run scored and Jason Castro also had two hits for Minnesota (89-56).

Martin Perez (10-7) suffered the loss allowing five runs on six hits and three walks over five innings. He struck out four.

Washington parlayed three hits and a walk into a 2-0 lead in the first. Adam Eaton doubled with one out and Anthony Rendon followed with a walk. Juan Soto then singled to drive in Eaton. One out later, Zimmerman grounded a single to center to drive in Rendon.

The Nationals increased their lead to 5-0 in the third when Kendrick lined a two-out double over the head of right fielder Eddie Rosario to drive in Soto, who had walked. Zimmerman then followed with his sixth homer of the season and third in six starts since returning from the injured list on Sept. 1, a 397-foot drive into the bleachers in left-center.

The Twins cut it to 5-2 in the bottom of third on Polanco's 21st home run of the season, a 412-foot drive to right-center that drove in Arraez, who had singled.

Turner made it 6-2 in the ninth with his 14th homer of the season off reliever Randy Dobnak, a 436-foot drive to the back of the bullpen in left-center.

--Field Level Media