CHICAGO -- Carlos Gonzalez has only worn a Cubs uniform alongside Javier Baez for two games. The veteran outfielder has seen enough of the electric shortstop over the years from the opposite dugout, however, to crack a smile when asked about the style with which Baez plays.

"He's just the most exciting player in baseball," Gonzalez said. "He does things on the field that it's just, there's no explanation. He can do things with his hands. He can do things with his sliding. He's really smart. It's fun to watch, and I'm really happy to be part of the team that he's playing [on]."

Baez was at it again on Tuesday night, powering the Cubs' lineup with his bat and his legs in a 6-3 victory over the Rockies at Wrigley Field. If there were any lingering doubts about the status of Baez's recently sore heel, he dispelled them with dynamic plays all around the diamond for Chicago, which moved into a first-place tie with the Brewers atop the National League Central.

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There were other driving forces behind the Cubs' latest win -- such as a 10-strikeout, 111-pitch performance by Kyle Hendricks or the 467-foot home run by Kyle Schwarber -- but Baez served as the motor. It was one of those all-around showings that helped Baez blossom into an MVP candidate a year ago and another example of why he will probably be in the thick of that race again this fall.

Here are the ways in which Baez ignited Chicago's victory.

Power at the plate

It seemed like an alarm was sounding on Saturday, when Baez was scratched from the lineup with right heel soreness. That persistent injury has come and gone over the past two weeks, and this time it was Baez who asked for a day off.

The word from the Cubs was that the issue only bothered Baez with lateral movement when he was playing defense. That said, the dozen games from the time of the injury through Sunday included a .186 average, .604 OPS and a 42.6 percent strikeout rate (20 in 47 plate appearances) for the shortstop. Cubs manager Joe Maddon insisted that it was merely a slump -- not a health-related decline.

"It wasn't his foot. It was not," Maddon said. "It had everything to do with pitch selection -- that's it -- what he was swinging at. When guys go bad, it's normally that they're expanding their strike zone. That's the No. 1 cause of slumps, is when guys get out of their zone, and that's what he did."

In the sixth inning on Tuesday, Baez went hunting on a first-pitch fastball from Jeff Hoffman, launching it on a line to the batter's eye beyond the bricks and ivy in center field. The blast (No. 15 this year) had a 107.4 mph exit velocity and went a projected 440 feet, per Statcast, and was the shortstop's second shot in as many games. Baez ended the evening 3-for-4, pushing his season slash line up to .309/.352/.588 in the process.

The heel was not the problem.

"That was one of the reasons why I came back so fast," Baez said. "Because it didn't bother me while running in a straight line or swinging. Rotating my feet doesn't bother me. But, I think it did bother me going out of the box a little bit at first, but once it started, I kept working at it and it got better. It doesn't bother me at all right now."

Creativity on the bases

The arrival of Gonzalez to the Cubs on Monday gave Baez -- the team's cleanup hitter -- a new layer of protection in the batting order. If the former Rockies outfielder can get on an offensive roll out of the fifth spot, perhaps that will influence how pitchers attack Baez.

In the second inning, Baez saw three fastballs before Hoffman turned to a curveball low in the zone. The Cubs shortstop pulled it into left field for a single in front of Gonzalez. When the outfielder ripped a pitch to deep center field, Baez was off to the races. Per Statcast, Baez hit a sprint speed of 29.2 (97th percentile) on his run from first to home, where he scored with a head-first slide just ahead of the relay throw to catcher Tony Wolters.

Baez created the run, but Maddon also sees Gonzalez making an impact already.

"He has," Maddon said. "And to what extent is he helping Javy, hitting behind him right now, too? He is a professional."

Baez got creative again in the eighth, when he hit a pitch from Carlos Estevez off the end of the bat to the right side of the infield. Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy made a diving stop, shifted to one knee and fired the ball to Estevez, who was hustling to cover first. Baez -- who hit a 29.4 sprint speed on this play -- dove head-first again, slapping first safely before falling into foul territory.

"He was going to beat me to the bag," Baez said. "So, I just went head-first to beat the throw."

Kris Bryant was able to advance to third base from second on that play, setting up a sacrifice fly from Gonzalez that provided a crucial insurance run for the Cubs.

Input in a key moment

Hendricks was nearing the end of the road in the seventh inning, when Colorado had already scored one run to cut the Cubs' lead to 5-3.

With two outs and Wolters on first base, Hendricks worked to an 0-2 count in three pitches against leadoff man Raimel Tapia. The Rockies outfielder whiffed on a pair of changeups and then fouled off a four-seam fastball. At that juncture, Baez jogged to the mound for a brief conference with Hendricks, and they were soon joined by catcher Victor Caratini.

"Once the AB starts, you see when guys hit foul balls or swing and miss, what they're looking for," Baez said. "At that moment, we were up by two and man on first. I was making sure he didn't throw anything over the plate."

After their discussion, Hendricks went back to the changeup, firing one far outside for a ball. The right-hander stuck with the pitch, putting it closer to the low-and-away corner and enticing another swing from Tapia. The Wrigley Field crowd erupted with the strikeout, which marked the 21st swing-and-miss generated by Hendricks, whose career best was 22 in an outing against St. Louis in 2016.

Hendricks credited Baez for lending his voice to that crucial situation.

"He knows the game so well," Hendricks said. "That happens a lot. I'll look back to short and he'll kind of give me signals, even when he's not coming up for the visit. In that situation, I know what he's seeing. He sees the game just as well as anyone. Kind of, if they're late, early, what guys are sitting on. I definitely take into consideration what he tells us."

And through his play, Baez told everyone that he is feeling just fine.

"He can go bad for a couple days. You don't worry about that," Maddon said. "He knows it's coming back to him. He knows he's good. I love that. That's why he can be as good as he is and better for so many years to come. It's really awesome to watch him play. Everything that he did tonight was spectacular."