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

Guerrero crushed a two-run homer and Shane Bieber provided a composed start as the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, squaring the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and guaranteeing the series will return to Canada.

The Blue Jays had passed the morning of the next day dealing with their marathon Game 3 loss – equal to the lengthiest Fall Classic game ever – a defeat that cost them the opportunity to take the lead in the series and burned through both bullpens. Manager John Schneider insisted afterwards that “the Dodgers won a contest, not the World Series”. Twenty-three hours later, his squad offered emphatic evidence.

Early Innings

The Dodgers again scored first. Max Muncy walked in the second, moved up on a single and scored on Kiké Hernández's fly out. But the early breakthrough did not shake a Toronto club that topped MLB with 49 comeback victories this season.

They answered right away in the third inning. Lukes hit a one-out single to centre and Vladimir Guerrero Jr came to the plate looking for a breaking ball. Shohei Ohtani threw a sweeper up and he sent it soaring over the left-center wall. It was his first extra-base hit of the World Series and his seventh home run this playoffs – a new club mark – restoring the Toronto's lead after 13 shutout innings and shifting the momentum of the game.

Ohtani's Night

That hit also ended Shohei Ohtani's record-setting run of 11 consecutive plate appearances reaching base. The dual-threat star had hit two home runs and reached safely a record nine times in the Los Angeles' Game 3 walk-off. But on that night, he took the mound on limited rest – his briefest ever – after needing an IV to recuperate from the prior marathon.

His pitch speed sat under his regular-season average and he labored more as the contest progressed. Even so, he displayed glimpses of his typical control, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero's homer and fanning six. He even drew a walk in the first to extend his World Series streak. But the Toronto forced him to labor: six hits and four runs were credited to him in six-plus frames.

Seventh Inning Surge

The larger problem for Los Angeles was what followed when Ohtani eventually ran out of steam.

Varsho started the seventh inning with a clean single to right field, and Ernie Clement smashed a double off the fence to put two on with none out. Dave Roberts had little choice but to pull Ohtani, who exited to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Los Angeles' bullpen could not finish the escape.

Banda came into the mess and immediately fell behind. Andrés Giménez battled to a 3-2 count before driving in Varsho with a single to left field. France followed with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock the pitcher out of the contest. Blake Treinen entered next but also was unable to stop the rally: Bichette and Addison Barger punched RBI singles through the infield, completing a four-score barrage that pushed the lead to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Blue Jays's capacity to absorb early blows and respond has defined their entire postseason. They once again did it without George Springer, the injured top-of-the-order hitter who exited Game 3 after straining his oblique.

Shane Bieber, meanwhile, was everything the Blue Jays needed. Traded for during the summer while completing rehab from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded multiple runners and silenced the Los Angeles' potent lineup. He allowed one run on four hits and three free passes before the manager called on rookie pitcher Fluharty to face the core of the lineup in the sixth. He needed just four pitches to retire Muncy and Edman, protecting a narrow lead that quickly grew safe.

Converted starter Bassitt then worked a scoreless seventh and eighth as the Los Angeles' offense kept to sputter. Los Angeles have produced only three scores over their last 20 frames, an sudden slowdown for a club that ranked among baseball's elite offenses all season.

Closing Innings

The Los Angeles managed a score in the ninth inning when Edman hit into an out to bring home Teoscar Hernández after a base on balls and Max Muncy's double put runners aboard. But Varland closed it down without permitting a comeback to develop.

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. 6 separate Toronto players collected base hits, five brought home runs and the team converted almost every scoring chance available in the final innings.

Next Up

The win guarantees the championship trophy will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not won a championship since Joe Carter's iconic walk-off home run in 1993. They now know they are assured a full crowd in Canada on Friday evening – and possibly Saturday – no matter what occurs next in Los Angeles.

The fifth game approaches with the matchup even and energy swinging north. Los Angeles pitcher Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to halt the Blue Jays's momentum. The Blue Jays respond with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Toronto knocked out Snell early in an 11-4 win.