Guerrero Homers against Shohei Ohtani as Toronto Defeat Los Angeles to Tie Series at 2-2
Less than a day after staggering through one of the most exhausting losses in Fall Classic annals, the Blue Jays displayed total control.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr crushed a two-run homer and Bieber delivered a steady outing as Toronto defeated the Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday evening at their home ballpark, tying the Fall Classic at two games each and guaranteeing the series will head back to Toronto.
Toronto had passed the early hours of Tuesday processing their marathon third game defeat – equal to the longest Fall Classic game ever – a loss that cost them the chance to take the lead in the matchup and burned through both relief corps. Skipper John Schneider stated afterwards that “they took a game, not the championship”. A day later, his squad offered convincing proof.
Early Innings
The Los Angeles again struck first. Muncy walked in the second inning, advanced on a single and crossed the plate on Kiké Hernández's sacrifice fly. But the initial score did not shake a Blue Jays club that topped Major League Baseball with 49 comeback victories this year.
They answered immediately in the third inning. Lukes hit a one-out base hit to center field and Vladimir Guerrero Jr came to the plate looking for a curveball. Ohtani threw a slider up and he sent it soaring over the outfield fence. It was his initial extra-base hit of the World Series and his seventh homer this postseason – a fresh club record – regaining the Blue Jays's lead after 13 shutout innings and shifting the momentum of the night.
Ohtani's Performance
That swing also ended Shohei Ohtani's record-setting run of 11 straight plate appearances reaching base. The dual-threat phenomenon had smashed two home runs and got on base a record nine times in the Los Angeles' third game comeback win. But on Tuesday, he started on short rest – his shortest ever – after needing an IV to recuperate from the previous marathon.
Ohtani fastball velocity sat under his seasonal average and he struggled more as the game progressed. Even so, he displayed flashes of his typical command, retiring 11 of 12 after Guerrero Jr's blast and fanning six. He even drew a walk in the first to extend his Fall Classic streak. But the Toronto made him work: six base hits and four earned runs were credited to him in six-plus innings.
Late Game Surge
The bigger problem for Los Angeles was what followed when he finally ran out of steam.
Varsho started the seventh with a clean single to right field, and Clement smashed a double off the fence to put two on with none out. Dave Roberts had little choice but to remove Ohtani, who exited to a standing ovation from the local fans. The Los Angeles' relief corps could not complete the inning.
Banda came into the mess and immediately trailed in the count. Andrés Giménez battled to a 3-2 count before scoring the runner with a base hit to left. Ty France came up next with a groundout to make it 4-1, and that was sufficient to knock the pitcher out of the contest. Blake Treinen came in next but also failed to stem the momentum: Bo Bichette and Addison Barger hit run-scoring base hits through the diamond, capping a four-run outburst that pushed the lead to 6-1.
Blue Jays's Resilience
The Toronto's ability to absorb early setbacks and answer has defined their whole run. They once again did it without George Springer, the hurt top-of-the-order man who left Game 3 after straining his oblique.
Bieber, meanwhile, was everything the Blue Jays required. Traded for mid-season while finishing rehab from elbow surgery, the former Cy Young winner stranded several baserunners and quieted the Los Angeles' dangerous batting order. He allowed one earned run on four base hits and three free passes before the manager summoned rookie left-hander Fluharty to confront the heart of the order in the sixth. He needed just four throws to retire Muncy and Tommy Edman, protecting a fragile advantage that soon grew comfortable.
Former starting pitcher Chris Bassitt then pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings as the Dodgers' offense kept to sputter. The Dodgers have produced only three runs over their previous 20 innings, an abrupt downturn for a team that ranked among MLB's elite offenses all season.
Closing Innings
The Dodgers scraped a score in the ninth when Tommy Edman grounded out to bring home Teoscar Hernández after a walk and Muncy's two-base hit put two aboard. But Louis Varland finished the game without allowing a rally to develop.
Following a night when the Blue Jays stranded a World Series-record 19 runners and collapsed after wave upon wave of wasted chances, Game 4 was brutally effective. 6 different Toronto players collected base hits, 5 brought home runs and the squad cashed almost every scoring opportunity available in the late innings.
Looking Ahead
The win guarantees the World Series title will be presented at Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays have not won a championship since Joe Carter's iconic walk-off homer in 1993. They now are aware they are guaranteed a full crowd in Toronto on Friday night – and perhaps the next day – no matter what happens next in LA.
The fifth game approaches with the series reset and momentum swinging north. Los Angeles pitcher Snell (3-1, 2.42 ERA) will try to halt the Blue Jays's surge. The Blue Jays respond with rookie Trey Yesavage (2-1, 4.26 ERA) in a rematch of the opener, when the Blue Jays knocked out Snell early in an decisive victory.