CHICAGO -- The metaphor is simply too juicy to pass up. After the Chicago Cubs won their 11th straight game, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 13-2 on Friday afternoon, a fire alarm went off in the area of the Cubs clubhouse. They’re so hot right now, of course an alarm went off, right?

In actuality, the team’s fog machine, used for postgame celebrations, set off the alarm as smoke could be seen in the bowels of Wrigley Field.

“It happens every night,” winning pitcher Jake Arrieta said after the game. “I’m surprised the alarm doesn’t go off more often.”

The machine might need to be replaced after this season, considering the team improved to an eye-popping 41-17 at home. And as you might imagine after winning 11 in a row, contributions are needed from more than just the stars, especially on a Joe Maddon-led team in the month of August.

Ahead in the division by 13 games -- or 14, as the Cubs were after Friday’s win -- or behind by 10, Maddon doesn’t push it in the hottest month of the season. He prefers rest over extra work, as evidenced by his requirement for a 12 p.m. arrival for his players for a 1:20 p.m. CT first pitch on Friday. He’s asking the same of them on Saturday.

Utilityman Matt Szczur, who hit a pair of home runs in a rare start, celebrates with Chris Coghlan. Kamil Krzaczynski/USA TODAY Sports

Of interest on Friday was that Maddon started an entirely new outfield from the one he used the night before, because win No. 10 in a row went late into the night, ending in 11 innings. Switch hitters Dexter Fowler and Ben Zobrist never got off the bench on Friday. Neither did lefty Jason Heyward. Instead, seven right-handers faced tough righty Adam Wainwright. The result was five home runs from the righties, including four from his new outfield. Utility guy Matt Szczur hit two homers.

“What that does for his self-confidence is incredible,” Maddon said of Szczur. “When you give him a game like that, when he comes off the bench as a pinch hitter, [he] becomes more viable.”

Szczur totaled a career-high three extra-base hits.

Maddon pushed the right buttons, figuring he had a tired team but that a role player getting a rare start -- while leading off -- would be energizing. The manager was right.

“It’s awesome to see my name in the lineup,” Szczur said. “I was excited to get to the ballpark today.”

Szczur is a self-made ballplayer. He had no sure thing job on the Cubs, but over the past couple of years, he has remade his swing, which went from “ground ball stuff,” as Maddon put it, to one with pop. Szczur’s .508 slugging percentage is third best on the team.

“I’ve always grinded,” Szczur said. “I’ve never been handed anything.”

Check off a right-handed pinch hitter who can play solid defense for the playoff roster, as Szczur has solidified his spot there. Jorge Soler might be doing the same, as he has returned from an injury on fire -- no pun intended. Soler hit his third home run since being activated from the disabled list on Aug. 5; he was part of that new outfield, playing right field for the second time this season.

Rookie Willson Contreras was in left field and once again made an impact. He nearly gunned out Wainwright at second on a rocket throw from foul territory. Then Contreras hit a home run -- staring at it for a second -- while later busting his butt down the line to first in his last at-bat.

“He plays with his hair on fire,” Maddon said of Contreras. “I love it. It’s contagious. I don’t see him changing.”

Maddon indicated that the team has to rein in Contreras’ emotions so they aren’t used against him when things don’t go his way, but overall Maddon loves his temperament.

“We have to continue to monitor that and make sure we’re there for him,” Maddon said of Contreras.

Maddon called the performance of some of the backups a “pick-me-up” for the entire squad, and he lamented the decisions he has to make moving forward, as Contreras, Soler and Javier Baez go back to a rotation for playing time. The Cubs are once again in the territory of good problems to have, because when they've won 11 in a row and are up 14 games in the division, there’s really no lamenting anything. It all starts with that attitude epitomized by the grinder Szczur.

“The reason why I know we had eight or nine straight wins is my wife said something to me about it,” he said. “The good thing is we don’t look at yesterday. We come to the ballpark ready to win that day.”

Friday’s win set off alarms, but the Cubs have been making noise all season long.