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

Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run home run and Bieber provided a steady outing as Toronto defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday evening at Dodger Stadium, squaring the Fall Classic at two games each and guaranteeing the matchup will head back to Toronto.

Toronto had spent the early hours of the next day processing their 18-inning Game 3 loss – tied for the lengthiest Fall Classic game ever – a loss that cost them the opportunity to take the lead in the series and burned through both relief corps. Manager Schneider insisted later that “the Dodgers won a contest, not the World Series”. A day later, his squad offered convincing evidence.

Initial Innings

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

They responded immediately in the third. Nathan Lukes lined a one away single to centre and Vladimir Guerrero Jr came to the plate hunting a breaking ball. Shohei Ohtani threw a sweeper up and Guerrero sent it soaring over the left-center wall. It was his initial extra-base hit of the series and his seventh home run this postseason – a fresh team record – restoring the Toronto's lead after 13 shutout frames and changing the tone of the game.

Ohtani's Night

That swing also halted Ohtani's record-setting streak of 11 straight plate appearances getting on base. The two-way phenomenon had hit two home runs and got on base a record nine times in the Los Angeles' Game 3 walk-off. But on Tuesday, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after requiring an IV to recover from the prior marathon.

Ohtani pitch speed was under his regular-season norm and he labored more as the contest wore on. Nonetheless, he showed glimpses of his typical command, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero's homer and striking out six. He even walked in the first to extend his Fall Classic record. But the Blue Jays forced him to labor: six hits and four earned runs were credited to him in six-plus innings.

Seventh Inning Rally

The larger problem for the Dodgers was what followed when Ohtani finally lost steam.

Varsho opened the seventh inning with a clean single to right field, and Clement smashed a double off the wall to put two on with no outs. Roberts had little choice but to remove Ohtani, who departed to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Los Angeles' bullpen could not complete the inning.

Banda inherited the jam and right away trailed in the count. Giménez battled to a 3-2 count before scoring Varsho with a single to left. Ty France followed with a fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was enough to remove Banda out of the contest. Treinen came in next but also failed to stop the momentum: Bichette and Addison Barger hit RBI base hits through the infield, completing a four-score outburst that pushed the lead to 6-1.

Blue Jays's Toughness

The Blue Jays's capacity to withstand initial setbacks and answer has characterized their whole run. They once again succeeded without George Springer, the hurt leadoff man who left Game 3 after tweaking his right side.

Shane Bieber, in contrast, was everything the Blue Jays needed. Traded for during the summer while finishing rehab from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded several baserunners and silenced the Dodgers' dangerous batting order. He allowed one run on four base hits and three walks before Schneider called on rookie pitcher Mason Fluharty to face the core of the order in the sixth. Fluharty needed just 4 throws to retire Max Muncy and Tommy Edman, preserving a fragile lead that soon became comfortable.

Former starter Bassitt then worked a scoreless seventh and eighth innings as the Los Angeles' bats kept to struggle. The Dodgers have produced only three scores over their previous 20 frames, an sudden downturn for a team that ranked among MLB's top lineups all year.

Final Moments

The Los Angeles managed a run in the ninth inning when Tommy Edman hit into an out to bring home Hernández after a walk and Max Muncy's two-base hit put two aboard. But Louis Varland closed it down without allowing a rally to build.

After a night when the Blue Jays left a World Series-record 19 runners and collapsed after repeated of wasted chances, the fourth contest was brutally efficient. Six separate Blue Jays recorded hits, five drove in scores and the squad converted nearly every run-scoring opportunity presented in the late innings.

Next Up

The victory guarantees the World Series trophy will be awarded at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not won a championship since Carter's famous walk-off home run in 1993. They now know they are assured a packed crowd in Toronto on Friday night – and possibly Saturday – no matter what happens next in Los Angeles.

Game 5 approaches with the series reset and momentum shifting to Toronto. Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to halt the Toronto's surge. Toronto respond with rookie Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Blue Jays chased Snell early in an 11-4 win.