LOS ANGELES -- Changing speeds and winning over more believers, Guardians left-hander Matthew Boyd continued to solidify a spot in a playoff rotation after just five outings this season.

As if more evidence was needed that he would be a viable option in October, Boyd sliced his way through the lineup of a World Series favorite as the Guardians earned a 3-1 victory over the Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series on Friday at Dodger Stadium.

Boyd (2-1) gave up one run on three hits over six innings and Andrés Giménez hit a tie-breaking two-run home run in the sixth inning as Cleveland remained 4 1/2 games ahead of the Kansas City Royals and moved five games up on the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central.

Brayan Rocchio also added a home run as the Guardians won for the sixth time in their past eight games.

In five starts since returning from Tommy John surgery on Aug. 13, Boyd has given up one run in four of them. That high-upside signing in June, when Boyd agreed to join the Guardians despite still being in rehab mode, has been through the roof so far.

“You look at who he was before he was injured and he’s always been a pretty good pitcher, and then you get 14 months alone rehabbing and you learn a lot about yourself and you learn a lot about the game,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “So I’m not surprised to see him have this success. He’s been a good pitcher for a long time and he’s going to continue to be [one].”

Aside from a bit of a shaky start, Boyd was in complete control. The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani flied out to the base of the center-field wall to lead off the first inning and Mookie Betts followed with a double. Boyd hit Teoscar Hernández, the Dodgers’ fourth batter of the game, in the left foot with a pitch.

Boyd escaped that jam and cruised through the Dodgers’ lineup until Ohtani hit a home run to center field in the bottom of the sixth.

“These guys have one of the better lineups and [especially] those top three, four [hitters],” Boyd said. “I don’t want to take credit away from anybody else, but they’re solid. You’re facing Ohtani right from pitch one, so you have to be on. He can make it 1-0 really quick. So it was a good day.”

Boyd finished with no walks and six strikeouts while throwing 87 pitches. Vogt has kept Boyd’s workload consistent, with anywhere between 80 and 90 pitches in all five of his outings. He threw 90 pitches and had a season-best eight strikeouts while taking a hard-luck loss against the Pirates last Saturday.

“We have five pitches to work with so we can throw whatever,” Boyd said of working with catcher Bo Naylor. “I didn’t show that curveball until the fifth inning. It was using sliders and changeups and locating [fastballs]. That was kind of the recipe today, and guys made good plays behind me.”

Gimenéz has been on a roll of late with hits in nine of his past 11 games. He has eight home runs on the season, with three of those coming in the past seven contests.

But his home run Friday does not carry as much weight without Boyd’s performance.

“What has taken us here is good pitching and good defense behind them in games,” Gimenéz said. “I’m very happy for Boyd, the way he threw the ball, and especially how the bullpen was in this game. It was huge for us.”

Right-hander Cade Smith pitched a scoreless seventh inning, Hunter Gaddis escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam in the seventh and Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 42nd save to tie the Cardinals’ Ryan Helsley for the Major League lead.

Gaddis intentionally walked Freddie Freeman to load the bases and put the go-ahead run on base in the eighth before Chris Taylor hit into a double play that was started by Rocchio at shortstop.

“When you get to that part of the order, those guys are good. And bases loaded, one out and facing a really good hitter in Taylor, fortunately, we got the ground ball hit right to Rocchio,” Vogt said.