The wind whipping out on a warm afternoon, the Chicago Cubs found the perfect conditions to pad their home run total and maintain their lead in the NL Central.

“It was a good day to hit. But you can’t blame the wind. You still got to hit the ball,” said Cubs third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who connected on a pair of three-run homers to lead a wild 13-8 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.

“You can’t look up there,” Ramirez said of the wind gusting to 21 mph that was moving the flags. “If you try to hit home runs, I guarantee you won’t hit them.”

Alfonso Soriano and Geovany Soto also homered for the Cubs, who overcame a shaky performance from starter Jason Marquis to send the Pirates to their seventh straight loss.

Chicago, with eight games remaining, remained 1 1/2 games in front of Milwaukee in the division. The Brewers beat Atlanta 4-1 on Friday night.