Murphy extends his Wrigley magic

CHICAGO — Postseason or regular season, Daniel Murphy keeps crushing the ball at Wrigley Field.

Murphy hit two home runs off Kyle Hendricks to back Tanner Roark, and the Nationals won the opener of a series between division leaders by beating the Cubs 4-2 on Friday.

Murphy hit a two-run homer in the first and connected leading off the sixth for a 3-0 lead.

“We started this series the right way and hopefully gave ourselves a chance to win the series,” Murphy said. “We’re really excited about coming in and seeing if we can win a series. That’s what it’s all about this time of year.”

Counting the postseason, Murphy is 20-for-38 with four home runs in his last 10 games at Wrigley. With the Mets in the 2015 NL Championship Series, he hit two homers in Chicago and four overall as the Mets swept.

Roark (9-7) didn’t allow a run until Javier Baez chased him with a two-run homer with one out in the seventh. The righty allowed five hits while improving to 3-1 in his last four starts.

Hendricks (4-4) gave up three runs on five hits in seven innings in his longest outing since May 24. He missed about seven weeks because of tendinitis in his right hand before returning July 24.

“Pitch efficiency is much better,” Hendricks said after his third start back. “It clicked about the fourth inning. I started getting some quicker outs, quicker innings. When you get through seven, it felt real good.”

The Cubs have lost three straight after winning 14 of 17 following the All-Star break.

Cubs RHP John Lackey (8-9, 4.87) will try to improve to 4-0 since the break when he faces RHP Edwin Jackson (2-1, 2.84) on Saturday.