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Less than a day following enduring one of the most draining defeats in World Series history, the Toronto Blue Jays played with total control.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber provided a steady outing as the Blue Jays beat the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, squaring the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and ensuring the matchup will head back to Canada.

Toronto had passed the morning of Tuesday processing their marathon third game defeat – tied for the lengthiest Fall Classic game ever – a defeat that denied them the chance to take the lead in the matchup and burned through both relief corps. Manager John Schneider insisted afterwards that “the Dodgers won a contest, not the World Series”. Twenty-three hours later, his squad provided convincing evidence.

Early Innings

The Dodgers again struck first. Max Muncy walked in the second, moved up on a single and crossed the plate on Kiké Hernández's fly out. But the initial breakthrough did not shake a Toronto club that topped Major League Baseball with 49 come-from-behind wins this year.

They responded immediately in the third. Nathan Lukes lined a one-out base hit to center field and Guerrero stepped in looking for a curveball. Shohei Ohtani threw a sweeper up and he sent it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his first extra-base hit of the World Series and his seventh home run this postseason – a fresh team mark – restoring the Toronto's advantage after 13 scoreless frames and shifting the tone of the night.

Shohei's Night

That swing also ended Ohtani's record-setting streak of 11 straight at-bats reaching base. The two-way star had smashed two homers and got on base a historic nine times in the Dodgers' Game 3 comeback win. But on Tuesday, he took the mound on limited rest – his briefest ever – after requiring an IV to recuperate from the previous marathon.

His pitch speed sat under his seasonal average and he struggled more as the game wore on. Nonetheless, he displayed flashes of his usual command, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's homer and fanning six. He even walked in the first to extend his Fall Classic streak. But the Toronto made him work: six base hits and four earned runs were charged to him in over six frames.

Seventh Inning Rally

The bigger issue for Los Angeles was what came next when he eventually lost steam.

Daulton Varsho started the seventh with a clean hit to right field, and Clement drilled a double off the fence to put runners on with none out. Dave Roberts had little choice but to pull Ohtani, who exited to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Dodgers' relief corps could not complete the inning.

Banda inherited the mess and immediately fell behind. Andrés Giménez battled to a full count before scoring Varsho with a single to left field. Ty France followed with a fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock the pitcher out of the contest. Treinen entered next but also was unable to stem the rally: Bo Bichette and Barger punched RBI singles through the diamond, completing a four-run outburst that pushed the lead to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Toronto's capacity to withstand early blows and answer has characterized their whole run. They once again did it without George Springer, the injured leadoff hitter who exited Game 3 after straining his oblique.

Shane Bieber, meanwhile, was everything Toronto required. Acquired during the summer while finishing recovery from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded multiple runners and silenced the Los Angeles' dangerous batting order. He gave up one earned run on four hits and three walks before Schneider summoned rookie left-hander Fluharty to face the core of the lineup in the sixth. Fluharty needed just 4 pitches to retire Max Muncy and Edman, protecting a fragile advantage that soon became comfortable.

Converted starting pitcher Bassitt then worked a clean seventh and eighth innings as the Los Angeles' bats kept to sputter. The Dodgers have scored only three scores over their previous 20 frames, an abrupt slowdown for a club that ranked among MLB's elite offenses all year.

Final Innings

The Dodgers managed a score in the ninth when Tommy Edman grounded out to bring home Teoscar Hernández after a base on balls and Max Muncy's double put two on base. But Louis Varland finished the game without permitting a comeback to build.

After a game when the Blue Jays left a Fall Classic-record 19 runners and fell apart after wave upon wave of wasted chances, the fourth contest was ruthlessly effective. Six different Toronto players collected base hits, five brought home scores and the squad cashed almost every run-scoring chance presented in the late stanzas.

Next Up

The victory ensures the championship title will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not celebrated a title since Joe Carter's iconic walk-off homer in 1993. They now know they are assured a packed house in Toronto on Friday evening – and possibly Saturday – no matter what happens next in Los Angeles.

Game 5 looms with the series even and energy swinging to Toronto. Los Angeles pitcher Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to halt the Blue Jays's momentum. The Blue Jays counter with first-year player Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a rematch of the opener, when the Toronto knocked out Snell quickly in an decisive victory.