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Only 24 hours after staggering through one of the most exhausting losses in Fall Classic annals, the Blue Jays played with complete control.

Guerrero smashed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber delivered a composed outing as the Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, squaring the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and guaranteeing the series will return to Canada.

The Blue Jays had passed the early hours of Tuesday dealing with their 18-inning third game defeat – tied for the longest World Series game ever – a defeat that denied them the chance to take the lead in the series and burned through both bullpens. Manager Schneider insisted afterwards that “the Dodgers took a game, not the championship”. Twenty-three hours later, his team provided convincing evidence.

Initial Action

The Los Angeles again scored first. Max Muncy walked in the second inning, moved up on a single and scored on Hernández's fly out. But the initial breakthrough did not shake a Toronto club that led MLB with 49 comeback victories this year.

They responded right away in the third inning. Lukes hit a one-out base hit to center field and Guerrero came to the plate looking for a curveball. Ohtani threw a sweeper up and he drove it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his first long hit of the World Series and his seventh homer this playoffs – a new club record – regaining the Toronto's lead after 13 scoreless frames and shifting the tone of the night.

Shohei's Night

That swing also halted Ohtani's record-setting run 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 walk-off. But on Tuesday, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after needing an IV to recover from the previous marathon.

Ohtani pitch speed was below his regular-season average and he labored more as the game wore on. Nonetheless, he showed flashes of his usual control, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero's blast and fanning six. He even drew a walk in the first to extend his Fall Classic record. But the Toronto made him work: six hits and four runs were charged to him in six-plus innings.

Late Game Rally

The larger problem for the Dodgers was what came next when he eventually lost energy.

Daulton Varsho started the seventh with a sharp hit to right, and Ernie Clement drilled a two-base hit off the wall to put two on with none out. Roberts had no option but to pull Ohtani, who departed to a standing ovation from the home crowd. The Dodgers' bullpen could not complete the inning.

Anthony Banda inherited the jam and immediately fell behind. Andrés Giménez battled to a full count before scoring the runner with a single to left. Ty France followed with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to remove the pitcher out of the contest. Blake Treinen came in next but also failed to stop the momentum: Bo Bichette and Addison Barger punched run-scoring singles through the diamond, completing a four-run outburst that pushed the margin to 6-1.

Blue Jays's Toughness

The Blue Jays's capacity to absorb initial setbacks and answer has defined their entire run. They once again did it without George Springer, the injured top-of-the-order man who left Game 3 after tweaking his right side.

Bieber, in contrast, was everything the Blue Jays required. Traded for during the summer while completing rehab from elbow surgery, the former award-winning winner left multiple runners and silenced the Los Angeles' dangerous batting order. He allowed 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 inning. He needed just four pitches to get out Muncy and Edman, protecting a narrow lead that soon grew comfortable.

Converted starter Bassitt then worked a clean seventh and eighth innings as the Los Angeles' offense continued to sputter. The Dodgers have produced only 3 scores over their previous 20 frames, an sudden downturn for a club that ranked among MLB's elite lineups all season.

Final Innings

The Los Angeles scraped a run in the ninth when Tommy Edman grounded out to bring home Hernández after a base on balls and Max Muncy's double put two aboard. But Varland finished the game without permitting a comeback to build.

Following a game when the Blue Jays left a Fall Classic-record 19 baserunners and collapsed after wave upon wave of missed chances, Game 4 was ruthlessly effective. Six separate Toronto players recorded hits, five drove in scores and the team converted nearly every run-scoring chance available in the late stanzas.

Looking Ahead

The victory guarantees the World Series title will be presented at their home stadium, where the Blue Jays have not celebrated a title since Carter's iconic game-winning homer in 1993. They now know they are assured a full crowd in Canada on Friday night – and possibly Saturday – no matter what occurs next in LA.

Game 5 looms with the series even and momentum swinging north. Los Angeles pitcher Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to arrest the Toronto's surge. Toronto respond with first-year player Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Blue Jays chased Snell early in an decisive win.