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Less than a day following enduring one of the most draining defeats in Fall Classic annals, the Blue Jays displayed total control.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber delivered a composed outing as Toronto defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at Dodger Stadium, squaring the Fall Classic at two games each and ensuring the matchup will head back to Canada.

The Blue Jays had spent the morning of Tuesday dealing with their marathon Game 3 loss – equal to the longest World Series contest ever – a loss that denied them the chance to lead the matchup and depleted both relief corps. Manager John Schneider insisted later that “the Dodgers won a contest, not the World Series”. A day later, his team provided convincing proof.

Initial Action

The Dodgers again scored first. Max Muncy walked in the second, moved up on a single and crossed the plate on Kiké Hernández's sacrifice fly. But the early breakthrough did not rattle a Blue Jays club that topped Major League Baseball with 49 comeback wins this season.

They responded immediately in the third. Lukes lined a one away base hit to centre and Guerrero came to the plate hunting a curveball. Ohtani left a slider up and Guerrero sent it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his initial long hit of the World Series and his seventh home run this playoffs – a fresh team mark – regaining the Toronto's advantage after 13 scoreless frames and shifting the tone of the night.

Ohtani's Performance

That hit also halted Ohtani's history-making streak of 11 consecutive at-bats reaching base. The two-way phenomenon had smashed two homers and reached safely a record nine times in the Dodgers' Game 3 walk-off. But on that night, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after requiring an IV to recover from the previous marathon.

His fastball velocity was under his seasonal norm and he labored more as the game progressed. Nonetheless, he displayed glimpses of his usual control, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's homer and fanning six. He even drew a walk in the first inning to continue his World Series record. But the Toronto forced him to labor: six hits and four runs were credited to him in over six frames.

Seventh Inning Rally

The bigger issue for the Dodgers was what followed when he finally lost steam.

Daulton Varsho opened the seventh inning with a sharp single to right, and Clement drilled a two-base hit off the wall to put two on with no outs. Roberts had little choice but to remove the starter, who departed to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Dodgers' relief corps could not finish the escape.

Anthony Banda came into the jam and immediately trailed in the count. Andrés Giménez battled to a 3-2 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 knock the pitcher out of the game. Treinen came in next but also failed to stop the momentum: Bo Bichette and Barger punched RBI singles through the infield, capping a four-score outburst that pushed the lead to 6-1.

Blue Jays's Resilience

The Toronto's capacity to withstand early blows and respond has defined their whole postseason. They once again did it without Springer, the hurt leadoff hitter who left the third game after tweaking his right side.

Shane Bieber, in contrast, was exactly what the Blue Jays needed. Traded for during the summer while completing rehab from elbow surgery, the ex- award-winning winner left several runners and quieted the Los Angeles' dangerous batting order. He allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks before Schneider summoned rookie pitcher Fluharty to face the core of the order in the sixth inning. Fluharty required just four throws to retire Muncy and Tommy Edman, preserving a fragile advantage that soon grew safe.

Converted starting pitcher Chris Bassitt then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings as the Los Angeles' offense kept to struggle. Los Angeles have produced only three scores over their previous 20 frames, an sudden slowdown for a team that was among MLB's elite lineups all season.

Closing Moments

The Dodgers scraped a run in the ninth inning when Tommy Edman grounded out to score Teoscar Hernández after a base on balls and Muncy's two-base hit put runners aboard. But Louis Varland closed it down without allowing a comeback to build.

Following a game when the Blue Jays left a World Series-record 19 runners and fell apart after wave upon wave of missed opportunities, the fourth contest was brutally efficient. Six different Blue Jays recorded base hits, 5 drove in scores and the squad cashed almost every scoring chance presented in the final innings.

Looking Ahead

The win ensures the championship title will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays have not won a championship since Carter's iconic walk-off home run in 1993. They now know they are guaranteed a packed crowd in Canada on Friday evening – and possibly the next day – no matter what occurs next in Los Angeles.

The fifth game looms with the series even and energy shifting north. Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to arrest the Toronto's surge. Toronto counter with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Toronto chased the starter quickly in an 11-4 victory.