🔗 Share this article

Only 24 hours after staggering through one of the most draining defeats in Fall Classic annals, the Blue Jays played with total command.

Guerrero crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber provided a steady start as the Blue Jays defeated the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, tying the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and guaranteeing the series will head back to Canada.

The Blue Jays had spent the morning of Tuesday processing their marathon Game 3 loss – tied for the lengthiest World Series game ever – a defeat that cost them the chance to take the lead in the matchup and depleted both relief corps. Skipper Schneider insisted later that “the Dodgers won a game, not the championship”. A day later, his squad offered emphatic evidence.

Early Innings

The Dodgers again scored first. Muncy drew a walk in the second, moved up on a base hit and scored on Hernández's sacrifice fly. But the initial breakthrough did not rattle a Blue Jays club that led Major League Baseball with 49 come-from-behind victories this season.

They responded right away in the third. Nathan Lukes lined a one away base hit to centre and Vladimir Guerrero Jr stepped in hunting a breaking ball. Ohtani threw a sweeper up and he sent it soaring over the outfield fence. It was his initial extra-base hit of the World Series and his seventh home run this playoffs – a new team mark – restoring the Toronto's advantage after 13 shutout innings and changing the momentum of the game.

Shohei's Night

That hit also ended Shohei Ohtani's history-making run of 11 consecutive plate appearances getting on base. The two-way phenomenon had smashed two homers and got on base a historic nine times in the Dodgers' third game comeback win. But on Tuesday, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after needing an IV to recover from the previous marathon.

Ohtani pitch speed sat below his seasonal average and he struggled more as the game progressed. Nonetheless, he displayed flashes of his usual command, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's homer and fanning six. He even drew a walk in the first inning to extend his Fall Classic streak. But the Toronto made him work: six hits and four earned runs were credited to him in six-plus innings.

Seventh Inning Surge

The bigger problem for Los Angeles was what followed when he finally ran out of steam.

Varsho opened the seventh inning with a clean hit to right field, and Clement smashed a two-base hit off the wall to put runners on with none out. Dave Roberts had no option but to pull the starter, who departed to a roaring applause from the local fans. The Los Angeles' relief corps could not finish the escape.

Banda inherited the jam and right away trailed in the count. Andrés Giménez fought to a full count before scoring Varsho with a base hit to left. France followed with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to remove Banda out of the game. Treinen entered next but also failed to stem the momentum: Bichette and Addison Barger hit run-scoring singles through the diamond, capping a four-score barrage that pushed the margin to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Toronto's capacity to absorb initial setbacks and respond has characterized their entire postseason. They once again succeeded without George Springer, the hurt leadoff man who left the third game after tweaking his oblique.

Bieber, meanwhile, was everything Toronto required. Traded for during the summer while completing recovery from Tommy John surgery, the ex- award-winning winner stranded multiple baserunners and silenced the Los Angeles' potent batting order. He gave up one run on four base hits and three walks before Schneider called on rookie left-hander Mason Fluharty to face the core of the order in the sixth. Fluharty needed just four pitches to get out Muncy and Edman, protecting a fragile lead that soon became safe.

Former starter Chris Bassitt then worked a clean seventh and eighth as the Dodgers' bats kept to sputter. Los Angeles have scored only three scores over their previous 20 innings, an sudden slowdown for a club that ranked among baseball's elite lineups all season.

Closing Innings

The Dodgers scraped a run in the ninth inning when Tommy Edman hit into an out to bring home Hernández after a base on balls and Max Muncy's double put runners on base. But Louis Varland closed it down without permitting a rally to build.

After a night when Toronto stranded a World Series-record 19 baserunners and fell apart after wave upon wave of wasted chances, Game 4 was ruthlessly efficient. Six separate Toronto players recorded base hits, 5 drove in scores and the squad converted almost every scoring opportunity presented in the late innings.

Looking Ahead

The win guarantees the World Series title will be presented at their home stadium, where the Blue Jays have not celebrated a title since Joe Carter's famous game-winning home run in 1993. They now know they are guaranteed a packed crowd in Toronto on Friday evening – and perhaps the next day – no matter what occurs next in LA.

The fifth game looms with the matchup even and momentum shifting to Toronto. Dodgers pitcher Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to arrest the Toronto's surge. The Blue Jays respond with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Blue Jays chased the starter early in an decisive victory.