LOS ANGELES — The Red Sox have another new candidate for their best win of the year.
Against the two-time defending World Series champions, facing one of the best pitchers in the world, they pulled out a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers on Saturday night.
Ceddanne Rafaela hit two home runs off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, lefthander Payton Tolle gutted through six innings, right fielder Wilyer Abreu threw out two runners at second base, the bottom of the lineup produced a run when the Sox most needed it, and the back end of the bullpen was practically perfect — all in a win so tight that each of the above was critical to the eventual outcome.
Aroldis Chapman tossed a perfect ninth inning, stranding Shohei Ohtani in the on-deck circle.
On Sunday, the Red Sox will go for the sweep at Dodger Stadium. Already, they have won eight consecutive series for the first time since 2013.
The Sox also have won four games in a row and 22 of their past 25 to improve to 59-51.
“We’ve been beating a lot of good pitchers,” said Rafaela, who became just the second person in three seasons to hit two homers in a game off Yamamoto (following Eric Haase in May). “We’ve been doing a good job against good teams. So we already know what we’re capable of, and I told the guys I believe in them. We are just gonna keep winning ball games.”
Interim manager Chad Tracy said: “One of the things I’ve learned in this job is every major league win, regardless of who you’re playing, feels really good. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into it. And if you’ve won five in a row, every major league loss doesn’t feel good. So it doesn’t matter. You just gotta win each game.”
Prior to the eighth inning, the Sox had two hits all night — Rafaela’s long balls.
They doubled that total in a blink in the eighth. Andruw Monasterio’s line drive to deep left field took one hop into the stands for an automatic double. Jarren Duran — tasked with moving the runner up “by any means necessary,” Tracy said — bunted toward first base for a single.
With Connor Wong at the plate, the Dodgers played their middle infield back, seemingly willing to concede a run in favor of a double play. And that is exactly what happened. Wong rolled a grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts, who started a double play as Monasterio crossed the plate.
“Mona saw it and took off,” Tracy said. “Wonger executed.”
Yamamoto finished eight innings having allowed three runs and four hits. He struck out three and walked one.
All of the Red Sox’ early action centered on Rafaela, who homered in each of his first two at-bats against Yamamoto.
The first came in the first inning, when Yamamoto threw a splitter that didn’t split. It stayed up in the zone, and Rafaela hit it higher, an estimated 389 feet to left-center field.
In the third, with the Sox down a run, Rafaela did it again — on another splitter, this one inside. Rafaela pulled his hands in and managed to not just pull the ball, but pull it hard. It flew even farther, an estimated 402 feet, again to left-center to tie it, 2-2.
“I was hunting something hard out over [the plate], because his fastball is really good,” Rafaela said. “So I was ready to hit the fastball, always knowing that I’m good hitting off-speed. I was just ready for the last one.”
Tracy said of Rafaela’s all-around performances: “He’s otherworldly right now … He’s been, I think it’s safe to say, probably the most key contributor to some of these wins.”
Tolle held the Dodgers (69-42) to two runs across six frames, settling in after initial trouble. He scattered nine hits and two walks and struck out seven.
For the first two innings, almost everything the Dodgers hit was hit hard. The only one that hurt, though, was Teoscar Hernandez’s opposite-field two-run home run that eked over the right-field wall.
Tolle’s great escape came later in the second, when the Dodgers had runners on second and third with one out. After Dalton Rushing’s harmless flyout to center, the Sox intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases. Then Tolle induced a groundout — hard, but an out nonetheless — from Andy Pages.
After one last jam, a two-on, one-out spot in the sixth, Tolle, seemingly pleased, screamed into his glove on his way off the mound. When Tracy reached out from dugout steps, signaling that the pitcher’s job was done for the night, Tolle gave him an enthusiastic handshake.
“To compete and kind of battle through it — gotta be proud of that,” Tolle said. “Whenever I give him that kind of handshake, it’s pretty satisfying.”
Tim Healey can be reached at timothy.healey@globe.com. Follow him @timbhealey.