Guerrero Blasts off Ohtani as Toronto Defeat Dodgers to Level World Series at 2-2

Only 24 hours following staggering through one of the most exhausting losses in Fall Classic history, the Toronto Blue Jays displayed total control.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr smashed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber provided a steady start as Toronto beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, squaring the World Series at two games each and ensuring the matchup will return to Canada.

Toronto had spent the early hours of Tuesday processing their marathon Game 3 loss – equal to the longest World Series game ever – a loss that cost them the opportunity to lead the matchup and burned through both relief corps. Manager Schneider stated later that “they took a contest, not the championship”. A day later, his team provided emphatic evidence.

Early Innings

The Los Angeles again scored first. Max Muncy drew a walk in the second, advanced on a single and crossed the plate on Kiké Hernández's fly out. But the early score did not shake a Blue Jays club that led Major League Baseball with 49 comeback wins this year.

They responded right away in the third inning. Lukes lined a one away base hit to centre and Guerrero came to the plate hunting a breaking ball. Ohtani left a slider up and he sent it screaming over the outfield fence. It was his initial long hit of the series and his seventh home run this postseason – a new club record – restoring the Blue Jays's advantage after 13 shutout innings and shifting the tone of the game.

Shohei's Performance

That swing also ended Ohtani's record-setting streak of 11 straight plate appearances reaching base. The two-way star had smashed two homers and reached safely a record nine times in the Los Angeles' Game 3 comeback win. But on Tuesday, he took the mound on short rest – his briefest ever – after needing an IV to recover from the previous extra-inning game.

Ohtani fastball velocity was below his regular-season average and he struggled more as the game wore on. Nonetheless, he displayed flashes of his typical command, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's homer and fanning six. He even walked in the first to continue his World Series streak. But the Blue Jays forced him to labor: six base hits and four runs were charged to him in six-plus innings.

Late Game Surge

The bigger issue for Los Angeles was what came next when Ohtani eventually lost energy.

Varsho started the seventh inning with a clean hit to right field, and Clement drilled a double off the fence to put two on with no outs. Dave Roberts had no option but to pull the starter, who departed to a standing ovation from the home crowd. The Dodgers' relief corps could not finish the escape.

Banda came into the jam and immediately trailed in the count. Giménez fought to a 3-2 count before scoring the runner with a base hit to left field. France followed with a fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock Banda out of the contest. Treinen entered next but also failed to stem the momentum: Bichette and Addison Barger punched RBI base hits through the infield, completing a four-run barrage that extended the lead to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Blue Jays's capacity to absorb initial blows and answer has characterized their entire run. They once again succeeded without Springer, the injured top-of-the-order hitter who exited the third game after straining his right side.

Bieber, meanwhile, was exactly what the Blue Jays needed. Traded for during the summer while completing recovery from Tommy John surgery, the ex- Cy Young winner left several runners and quieted the Dodgers' dangerous batting order. He allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks before Schneider called on rookie left-hander Fluharty to face the core of the order in the sixth inning. Fluharty required just four pitches to retire Max Muncy and Tommy Edman, preserving a fragile lead that quickly grew safe.

Former starter Bassitt then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings as the Los Angeles' offense continued to sputter. Los Angeles have produced only 3 scores over their previous 20 frames, an sudden slowdown for a team that was among baseball's elite lineups all year.

Final Moments

The Los Angeles scraped a score in the ninth when Tommy Edman grounded out to bring home Hernández after a base on balls and Muncy's double put two aboard. But Louis Varland closed it down without allowing a comeback to build.

After a night when Toronto left a Fall Classic-record 19 runners and fell apart after repeated of wasted chances, the fourth contest was ruthlessly effective. Six different Toronto players collected hits, five brought home scores and the team cashed nearly every run-scoring opportunity presented in the final stanzas.

Next Up

The win guarantees the World Series title will be presented at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays have not celebrated a title since Carter's famous walk-off home run in '93. They now are aware they are assured a packed house in Toronto on Friday evening – and perhaps Saturday – no matter what happens next in Los Angeles.

Game 5 looms with the matchup even and momentum swinging north. Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to halt the Blue Jays's surge. Toronto 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 win.