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

Guerrero crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber provided a composed start as Toronto defeated the Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday night at their home ballpark, tying the Fall Classic at two games each and guaranteeing the series will head back to Toronto.

The Blue Jays had passed the early hours of Tuesday processing their marathon Game 3 loss – tied for the longest Fall Classic contest ever – a loss that cost them the opportunity to take the lead in the series and burned through both relief corps. Manager Schneider stated later that “the Dodgers won a game, not the championship”. Twenty-three hours later, his team offered emphatic evidence.

Early Action

The Los Angeles again struck first. Muncy walked in the second inning, advanced on a single and crossed the plate on Hernández's sacrifice fly. But the initial breakthrough did not rattle a Toronto team that led Major League Baseball with 49 comeback victories this year.

They answered immediately in the third inning. Nathan Lukes lined a one-out base hit to center field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr stepped in looking for a curveball. Shohei Ohtani left a sweeper up and Guerrero drove it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his initial long hit of the World Series and his seventh homer this postseason – a new team mark – restoring the Blue Jays's advantage after 13 scoreless frames and shifting the tone of the night.

Ohtani's Night

That hit also halted Shohei Ohtani's history-making streak of 11 straight plate appearances reaching base. The two-way star had smashed two homers and reached safely a record nine times in the Dodgers' Game 3 walk-off. But on Tuesday, he took the mound on limited rest – his shortest ever – after requiring an IV to recuperate from the prior extra-inning game.

Ohtani fastball velocity was under his seasonal average and he struggled more as the game progressed. Even so, he displayed flashes of his typical control, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's blast and fanning six. He even walked in the first inning to continue his Fall Classic record. But the Blue Jays forced him to labor: six hits and four runs were credited to him in six-plus innings.

Seventh Inning Rally

The larger problem for the Dodgers was what followed when he finally lost energy.

Varsho started the seventh with a sharp hit to right, and Ernie Clement smashed a two-base hit off the fence to put two on with none out. Roberts had little choice but to remove the starter, who exited to a standing ovation from the home crowd. The Dodgers' relief corps could not finish the escape.

Anthony Banda inherited the jam and immediately fell behind. Andrés Giménez battled to a 3-2 count before driving in the runner with a single to left field. Ty France came up next with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock Banda out of the game. Blake Treinen came in next but also was unable to stop the rally: Bo Bichette and Addison Barger punched RBI base hits through the diamond, capping a four-run outburst that pushed the margin to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Toronto's ability to withstand early blows and answer has characterized their entire postseason. They once again succeeded without Springer, the injured leadoff hitter who exited the third game after tweaking his oblique.

Bieber, meanwhile, was exactly what Toronto required. Acquired mid-season while completing rehab from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded several baserunners and silenced the Dodgers' dangerous lineup. He allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks before the manager called on first-year pitcher Mason Fluharty to confront the heart of the order in the sixth. He required just four throws to retire Muncy and Edman, preserving a fragile lead that quickly became safe.

Converted starter Chris Bassitt then pitched a clean seventh and eighth as the Dodgers' offense continued to sputter. Los Angeles have produced only 3 runs over their last 20 frames, an sudden slowdown for a team that ranked among baseball's top lineups all season.

Closing Innings

The Los Angeles managed a run in the ninth inning when Edman grounded out to bring home Teoscar Hernández after a base on balls and Max Muncy's double put two aboard. But Louis Varland closed it down without permitting a rally to build.

Following a game when Toronto stranded a World Series-record 19 runners and collapsed after repeated of wasted opportunities, Game 4 was brutally effective. Six different Toronto players recorded hits, 5 drove in runs and the squad cashed nearly every scoring opportunity available in the final stanzas.

Next Up

The victory ensures the World Series trophy will be presented at their home stadium, where the Toronto have not won a championship since Joe Carter's famous walk-off home run in '93. They now know they are assured a packed house in Toronto on Friday evening – and possibly the next day – no matter what occurs next in Los Angeles.

Game 5 approaches with the matchup reset and momentum swinging north. Los Angeles left-hander Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to halt the Blue Jays's momentum. The Blue Jays respond with rookie Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Toronto chased Snell quickly in an decisive victory.