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Only 24 hours after staggering through one of the most draining losses in World Series annals, the Blue Jays displayed total control.

Guerrero smashed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber delivered a steady start as Toronto beat the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, tying the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and ensuring the series will return to Toronto.

Toronto had spent the morning of the next day dealing with their marathon third game defeat – equal to the longest World Series contest ever – a defeat that denied them the opportunity to lead the matchup and depleted both relief corps. Manager Schneider stated later that “they won a game, not the championship”. Twenty-three hours later, his squad offered convincing evidence.

Initial Innings

The Los Angeles again scored first. Muncy drew a walk in the second, advanced on a single and scored on Hernández's fly out. But the initial score did not rattle a Blue Jays club that topped Major League Baseball with 49 come-from-behind victories this season.

They answered immediately in the third. Lukes hit a one away base hit to center field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr came to the plate looking for a curveball. Shohei Ohtani threw a sweeper up and Guerrero drove it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his first long hit of the World Series and his 7th homer this playoffs – a fresh team record – regaining the Toronto's lead after 13 scoreless frames and shifting the tone of the game.

Shohei's Night

That swing also ended Ohtani's record-setting streak of 11 straight at-bats reaching base. The dual-threat phenomenon had hit two homers and reached safely a historic nine times in the Dodgers' Game 3 walk-off. But on that night, he started on limited rest – his briefest ever – after requiring 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 contest wore on. Even so, he showed flashes of his usual command, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero's homer and striking out six. He even walked in the first to extend his Fall Classic record. But the Toronto made him work: six base hits and four earned runs were charged to him in over six frames.

Late Game Rally

The larger problem for Los Angeles was what followed when Ohtani eventually lost energy.

Daulton Varsho opened the seventh inning with a clean hit to right, and Ernie Clement drilled a two-base hit off the fence to put runners on with none out. Roberts had no option but to pull the starter, who exited to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Dodgers' bullpen could not complete the escape.

Banda came into the jam and right away trailed in the count. Andrés Giménez fought to a 3-2 count before scoring the runner with a single to left. France followed with a fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was sufficient to remove Banda out of the contest. Treinen entered next but also failed to stem the rally: Bichette and Barger hit RBI singles through the infield, capping a four-score outburst that extended the margin to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Blue Jays's capacity to absorb initial setbacks and respond has defined their whole postseason. They once again succeeded without Springer, the injured leadoff hitter who exited the third game after tweaking his oblique.

Shane Bieber, meanwhile, was exactly what Toronto needed. Acquired mid-season while finishing recovery from elbow surgery, the ex- award-winning winner stranded several baserunners and quieted the Los Angeles' potent lineup. He gave up one earned run on four hits and three free passes before the manager called on rookie pitcher Fluharty to confront the core of the lineup in the sixth inning. He needed just four pitches to retire Max Muncy and Edman, preserving a narrow lead that quickly became comfortable.

Converted starting pitcher Bassitt then pitched a clean seventh and eighth as the Dodgers' bats continued to sputter. The Dodgers have scored only 3 runs over their last 20 innings, an abrupt slowdown for a club that was among baseball's elite lineups all year.

Final Moments

The Los Angeles scraped a score in the ninth when Edman grounded out to score Teoscar Hernández after a walk and Max Muncy's double put runners on base. But Louis Varland finished the game without allowing a rally to develop.

After a night when the Blue Jays left a Fall Classic-record 19 baserunners and fell apart after repeated of wasted opportunities, the fourth contest was brutally effective. Six different Blue Jays collected base hits, five brought home runs and the squad cashed almost every scoring chance presented in the final innings.

Looking Ahead

The victory ensures the World Series title will be awarded at their home stadium, where the Blue Jays have not celebrated a title since Joe Carter's famous walk-off home run in 1993. They now know they are guaranteed a packed crowd in Toronto on Friday evening – and perhaps Saturday – no matter what happens next in LA.

The fifth game approaches with the series reset and momentum shifting north. Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to halt the Blue Jays's surge. The Blue Jays counter with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a rematch of the opener, when the Toronto knocked out Snell early in an decisive victory.