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Less than a day following staggering through one of the most exhausting losses in World Series history, the Toronto Blue Jays played with total command.

Guerrero crushed a two-run homer and Bieber provided a steady start as the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, squaring the Fall Classic at two games each and guaranteeing the matchup will return 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 series and burned through both relief corps. Skipper John Schneider stated afterwards that “they took a game, not the championship”. Twenty-three hours later, his squad provided emphatic proof.

Initial Action

The Dodgers again scored first. Max Muncy walked in the second inning, moved up on a base hit and crossed the plate on Hernández's fly out. But the early breakthrough did not shake a Toronto team that topped MLB with 49 come-from-behind wins this year.

They answered right away in the third. Lukes lined a one-out single to center field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr came to the plate looking for a breaking ball. Shohei Ohtani left a sweeper up and Guerrero drove it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his first long hit of the series and his seventh homer this playoffs – a new team record – restoring the Blue Jays's lead after 13 shutout innings and shifting the tone of the night.

Ohtani's Performance

That swing also ended Ohtani's record-setting run of 11 straight at-bats reaching base. The dual-threat phenomenon had hit two home runs and reached safely a record nine times in the Dodgers' third game comeback win. But on that night, he started on limited rest – his shortest ever – after needing an IV to recuperate from the prior marathon.

His pitch speed sat below his seasonal average and he labored more as the game progressed. Even so, he showed flashes of his usual command, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's blast and striking out six. He even walked in the first to continue his Fall Classic record. But the Blue Jays made him work: six hits and four earned runs were credited to him in over six frames.

Late Game Surge

The larger issue for Los Angeles was what followed when he eventually lost steam.

Varsho started the seventh inning with a clean hit to right, and Clement smashed a two-base hit off the fence to put runners on with no outs. Roberts had little choice but to remove the starter, who departed to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Los Angeles' relief corps could not complete the escape.

Banda came into the mess and immediately trailed in the count. Giménez fought to a full count before driving in the runner with a base hit to left. France followed with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to remove the pitcher out of the game. Treinen entered next but also was unable to stop the momentum: Bichette and Barger hit run-scoring singles through the infield, capping a four-run outburst that extended the lead to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Blue Jays's capacity to absorb early blows and answer has defined their whole run. They once again did it without Springer, the injured leadoff hitter who left the third game after tweaking his oblique.

Shane Bieber, meanwhile, was exactly what the Blue Jays needed. Acquired mid-season while completing recovery from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded multiple runners and quieted the Dodgers' potent batting order. He gave up one run on four hits and three walks before the manager summoned first-year left-hander Fluharty to face the heart of the order in the sixth. Fluharty required just 4 pitches to retire Muncy and Tommy Edman, protecting a fragile lead that soon became comfortable.

Former starting pitcher Bassitt then pitched a clean seventh and eighth as the Dodgers' bats kept to sputter. The Dodgers have produced only 3 runs over their last 20 innings, an sudden downturn for a team that was among baseball's top lineups all season.

Closing Innings

The Los Angeles scraped a run in the ninth inning when Tommy Edman hit into an out to score Hernández after a walk and Muncy's two-base hit put two aboard. But Louis Varland closed it down without allowing a comeback to develop.

Following a game when Toronto stranded a Fall Classic-record 19 runners and fell apart after wave upon wave of missed chances, Game 4 was brutally effective. Six separate Blue Jays collected base hits, five drove in scores and the team converted almost every run-scoring opportunity presented in the final innings.

Next Up

The win guarantees the championship title will be presented at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not won a championship since Carter's famous walk-off home run in '93. They now are aware they are assured a full crowd in Canada on Friday evening – and possibly Saturday – no matter what occurs next in LA.

The fifth game approaches with the series reset and momentum swinging north. Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to arrest the Blue Jays's surge. The Blue Jays counter with first-year player Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of Game 1, when the Toronto chased the starter early in an 11-4 win.