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

Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run home run and Shane Bieber delivered a composed outing as Toronto defeated the Dodgers 6-2 in the fourth game on Tuesday night at their home ballpark, squaring the Fall Classic at two wins apiece and guaranteeing the matchup will head back to Canada.

The Blue Jays had spent the morning of the next day dealing with their marathon third game defeat – tied for the lengthiest World Series contest ever – a loss that denied them the chance to take the lead in the series and burned through both relief corps. Manager Schneider insisted afterwards that “the Dodgers took a contest, not the championship”. Twenty-three hours later, his team provided convincing evidence.

Early Action

The Los Angeles again scored first. Max Muncy drew a walk in the second, advanced on a base hit and crossed the plate on Kiké Hernández's fly out. But the initial score did not shake a Blue Jays club that led Major League Baseball with 49 come-from-behind wins this season.

They responded immediately in the third inning. Nathan Lukes hit a one-out single to centre and Guerrero stepped in looking for a breaking ball. Ohtani threw a sweeper up and he sent it soaring over the outfield fence. It was his initial extra-base hit of the series and his seventh home run this postseason – a fresh club mark – restoring the Toronto's lead after 13 scoreless innings and changing the tone of the game.

Ohtani's Performance

That hit also ended Ohtani's history-making run of 11 consecutive at-bats getting on base. The two-way star had hit two homers and got on base a historic nine times in the Dodgers' third game comeback win. But on Tuesday, he took the mound on limited rest – his briefest ever – after needing an IV to recover from the previous extra-inning game.

Ohtani fastball velocity sat below his seasonal norm and he labored more as the contest progressed. Even so, he displayed flashes of his usual command, setting down 11 of 12 after Guerrero's homer and striking out six. He even drew a walk in the first to extend his World Series record. But the Toronto forced him to labor: six hits and four earned runs were charged to him in over six innings.

Late Game Rally

The bigger problem for the Dodgers was what came next when he eventually ran out of energy.

Daulton Varsho started the seventh inning with a sharp hit to right field, and Ernie Clement drilled a two-base hit off the wall to put runners on with none out. Roberts had little choice but to remove the starter, who departed to a roaring applause from the home crowd. The Dodgers' bullpen could not finish the inning.

Banda came into the mess and immediately fell behind. Giménez battled to a full count before scoring the runner with a base hit to left field. France followed with a fielder's choice to make it 4-1, and that was enough to knock Banda out of the contest. Blake Treinen entered next but also was unable to stop the rally: Bo Bichette and Addison Barger punched RBI base hits through the infield, capping a four-score barrage that extended the lead to 6-1.

Blue Jays's Resilience

The Blue Jays's ability to absorb initial blows and respond has characterized their entire postseason. They once again did it without Springer, the hurt leadoff man who left the third game after tweaking his oblique.

Shane Bieber, meanwhile, was everything the Blue Jays required. Traded for during the summer while completing recovery from Tommy John surgery, the former Cy Young winner left multiple baserunners and silenced the Los Angeles' dangerous lineup. He allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks before the manager called on first-year left-hander Fluharty to face the heart of the lineup in the sixth. He required just 4 pitches to get out Muncy and Tommy Edman, protecting a fragile advantage that soon grew comfortable.

Converted starter Bassitt then pitched a clean seventh and eighth as the Los Angeles' offense kept to struggle. Los Angeles have scored only three runs over their last 20 innings, an abrupt slowdown for a team that ranked among MLB's elite lineups all season.

Final Moments

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

Following a game when the Blue Jays stranded a World Series-record 19 runners and fell apart after wave upon wave of wasted chances, Game 4 was brutally efficient. 6 different Toronto players recorded base hits, five drove in runs and the team converted almost every scoring chance presented in the final stanzas.

Next Up

The victory ensures the World Series trophy will be presented at Rogers Centre, where the Toronto have not won a title since Joe Carter's iconic game-winning home run in 1993. They now are aware they are assured a packed crowd in Toronto on Friday night – and possibly Saturday – no matter what occurs next in LA.

Game 5 approaches with the matchup even and momentum swinging to Toronto. Los Angeles left-hander Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will attempt to arrest the Toronto's momentum. Toronto respond with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a repeat of the opener, when the Blue Jays chased Snell early in an decisive win.