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Only 24 hours following enduring one of the most exhausting losses in World Series annals, the Toronto Blue Jays played with total command.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber provided a steady outing as Toronto defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night at their home ballpark, squaring the World Series at two games each and guaranteeing the matchup will head back to Toronto.

Toronto had spent the morning of the next day dealing with their marathon Game 3 loss – equal to the longest Fall Classic game ever – a loss that denied them the opportunity to lead the matchup and depleted both relief corps. Skipper Schneider insisted afterwards that “they took a contest, not the championship”. A day later, his team provided emphatic proof.

Early Action

The Dodgers again scored first. Muncy drew a walk in the second inning, advanced on a base hit and crossed the plate on Hernández's sacrifice fly. But the early score did not shake a Toronto club that topped MLB with 49 come-from-behind wins this season.

They answered immediately in the third inning. Nathan Lukes hit a one away base hit to centre and Vladimir Guerrero Jr stepped in hunting a curveball. Shohei Ohtani threw a slider up and Guerrero sent it screaming over the outfield fence. It was his first long hit of the series and his 7th homer this playoffs – a fresh club mark – restoring the Toronto's lead after 13 shutout frames and shifting the tone of the night.

Shohei's Performance

That swing also halted Ohtani's record-setting run of 11 straight at-bats reaching base. The two-way phenomenon had smashed two homers and reached safely a record nine times in the Dodgers' third game comeback win. But on that night, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after requiring an IV to recover from the previous marathon.

Ohtani pitch speed sat below his regular-season norm and he labored more as the game wore on. Even so, he showed glimpses of his typical control, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's blast and striking out six. He even walked in the first to extend his Fall Classic record. But the Blue Jays made him work: six hits and four earned runs were credited to him in six-plus frames.

Seventh Inning Surge

The bigger problem for the Dodgers was what followed when Ohtani finally ran out of energy.

Daulton Varsho started the seventh with a sharp hit to right field, and Ernie Clement smashed a two-base hit off the wall to put two on with none out. Dave Roberts had little choice but to remove Ohtani, who departed to a roaring applause from the local fans. The Dodgers' relief corps could not finish the inning.

Anthony Banda came into the jam and right away 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 fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was sufficient to knock the pitcher out of the contest. Blake Treinen entered next but also was unable to stop the rally: Bichette and Barger punched RBI base hits through the infield, capping a four-score outburst that extended the margin to 6-1.

Toronto's Resilience

The Toronto's ability to withstand early blows and answer has characterized their whole postseason. They once again did it without George Springer, the hurt top-of-the-order man who exited the third game after straining his oblique.

Shane Bieber, in contrast, was everything Toronto required. Acquired during the summer while completing rehab from Tommy John surgery, the former award-winning winner stranded several runners and quieted the Dodgers' potent lineup. He gave up one run on four hits and three walks before Schneider summoned first-year left-hander Mason Fluharty to face the heart of the lineup in the sixth inning. Fluharty needed just four pitches to get out Muncy and Edman, protecting a fragile lead that soon became safe.

Converted starting pitcher Chris Bassitt then pitched a clean seventh and eighth as the Los Angeles' bats kept to struggle. The Dodgers have produced only three scores over their previous 20 innings, an abrupt slowdown for a team that ranked among baseball's top lineups all season.

Final Innings

The Los Angeles scraped a score in the ninth inning when Edman hit into an out to bring home Hernández after a base on balls and Muncy's double put runners aboard. But Varland finished the game without allowing a rally to build.

Following a night when the Blue Jays left a World Series-record 19 baserunners and collapsed after wave upon wave of wasted chances, the fourth contest was brutally efficient. 6 different Blue Jays recorded hits, 5 brought home scores and the squad cashed almost every run-scoring chance presented in the final innings.

Next Up

The win guarantees the World Series trophy will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays have not celebrated a championship since Joe Carter's famous walk-off home run in 1993. They now know they are guaranteed a full crowd in Toronto on Friday evening – and perhaps the next day – no matter what happens next in LA.

The fifth game approaches with the matchup reset and energy swinging north. Los Angeles pitcher Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to arrest the Blue Jays's surge. Toronto respond with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of Game 1, when the Blue Jays knocked out the starter quickly in an 11-4 victory.