Only 24 hours following staggering through one of the most draining defeats in Fall Classic history, the Blue Jays displayed total control.
Guerrero crushed a two-run homer and Bieber delivered a composed outing as Toronto beat the Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday night at their home ballpark, tying the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and ensuring the matchup will head back to Toronto.
Toronto had spent the early hours of Tuesday dealing with their marathon third game defeat – tied for the longest World Series game ever – a defeat that denied them the opportunity to lead the series and burned through both bullpens. Skipper Schneider insisted later that “the Dodgers took a contest, not the championship”. A day later, his team offered convincing evidence.
The Los Angeles again struck first. Max Muncy drew a walk in the second inning, advanced on a single and scored on Kiké Hernández's fly out. But the initial breakthrough did not shake a Toronto team that topped MLB with 49 comeback wins this year.
They answered immediately in the third inning. Nathan Lukes hit a one away base hit to center field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr stepped in hunting a breaking ball. Shohei Ohtani threw a slider up and he drove it screaming over the left-center wall. It was his initial extra-base hit of the World Series and his seventh homer this playoffs – a fresh club mark – regaining the Toronto's advantage after 13 shutout innings and shifting the tone of the game.
That hit also halted Shohei Ohtani's history-making run of 11 consecutive plate appearances reaching base. The two-way phenomenon had smashed two home runs and got on base a record nine times in the Los Angeles' third game walk-off. But on Tuesday, he started on short rest – his briefest ever – after requiring an IV to recover from the prior marathon.
Ohtani fastball velocity sat below his seasonal average and he struggled more as the game wore on. Nonetheless, he displayed flashes of his usual control, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's homer and striking out six. He even drew a walk in the first to extend his World Series streak. But the Toronto made him work: six base hits and four earned runs were charged to him in six-plus frames.
The bigger issue for the Dodgers was what came next when he eventually lost energy.
Daulton Varsho opened the seventh inning with a sharp single to right field, and Ernie Clement drilled a two-base hit off the fence to put runners on with no outs. Dave Roberts had little choice but to pull the starter, who departed to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Los Angeles' relief corps could not complete the escape.
Banda came into the jam and right away trailed in the count. Giménez fought to a 3-2 count before driving in Varsho with a base hit to left field. Ty France followed with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock Banda out of the game. Treinen came in next but also failed to stop the momentum: Bichette and Barger hit RBI singles through the infield, completing a four-run barrage that pushed the margin to 6-1.
The Toronto's capacity to absorb initial blows and respond has defined their whole run. They once again did it without George Springer, the hurt leadoff man who left the third game after tweaking his oblique.
Bieber, meanwhile, was everything the Blue Jays needed. Acquired mid-season while finishing recovery from elbow surgery, the former award-winning winner left multiple baserunners and silenced the Dodgers' potent lineup. He allowed one run on four base hits and three walks before the manager called on rookie pitcher Fluharty to face the core of the lineup in the sixth inning. Fluharty required just 4 pitches to get out Muncy and Edman, preserving a fragile advantage that soon became safe.
Converted starter Bassitt then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth as the Dodgers' bats continued to sputter. Los Angeles have scored only three runs over their last 20 frames, an abrupt downturn for a club that ranked among MLB's elite lineups all season.
The Dodgers managed a run in the ninth when Tommy Edman grounded out to bring home Teoscar Hernández after a walk and Max Muncy's two-base hit put two on base. But Louis Varland closed it down without allowing a comeback to develop.
After a night when the Blue Jays left a World Series-record 19 runners and fell apart after wave upon wave of missed chances, Game 4 was brutally effective. 6 different Blue Jays collected base hits, 5 drove in runs and the squad cashed nearly every run-scoring chance available in the late innings.
The victory ensures the World Series title will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not won a title since Carter's iconic game-winning home run in '93. They now know they are guaranteed a full crowd in Toronto on Friday night – and perhaps Saturday – no matter what occurs next in Los Angeles.
The fifth game approaches with the matchup reset and momentum shifting north. Dodgers pitcher Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to arrest the Blue Jays's surge. The Blue Jays respond with first-year player Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a rematch of Game 1, when the Blue Jays knocked out Snell early in an 11-4 victory.
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