Vladimir Guerrero's two-run homer put Blue Jays in lead and they never gave it up. Dodgers bullpen, led by Blake Treinen, couldn't keep game close as Toronto forces Game 6 back at Rogers Centre.
After Monday night's marathon 18-inning, 6-5 Los Angeles Dodgers win over the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto manager John Schneider commented to reporters that his team's mindset was always in a good place.
That mindset carried over to Tuesday night as the Blue Jays, behind Vladimir Guerrero's two-run home run and some key hitting against Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen, defeated the Dodgers 6-2 to even up the 2025 World Series at 2-2.
Shohei Ohtani, who had a massive performance on Monday night, took the mound for Los Angeles and, outside of giving up Guerrero's home run, pitched pretty well. But he ran into trouble in the seventh inning, forcing Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to turn to his bullpen. Ohtani ended up getting credited for four earned runs. But the bullpen could have kept that number a bit lower.
It should be noted that the Dodgers bullpen performed miraculously on Monday night. But it couldn't turn the same trick on Tuesday night as Anthony Banda and Treinen couldn't keep the game within reach.
The Blue Jays had a four-run seventh, paced by Andres Gimenez's RBI single, Ty France's RBI groundout, and RBI singles from Bo Bichette and Addison Barger.
With his two-run homer in the third inning, Guerrero Jr. took over sole possession of first place for most postseason homers in Blue Jays history with seven. He has plenty of time to add some more to that total.
The Dodgers were hoping to potentially sweep three games in front of their fans at Dodger Stadium. But Toronto didn't let that happen.
Blue Jays starting pitcher Shane Bieber was excellent on Tuesday night, giving up just one earned run in five-plus innings of work.
Los Angeles jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on Kike Hernandez's RBI sacrifice fly. The Dodgers didn't score again until the bottom of the ninth, when Tommy Edman's RBI groundout scored Teoscar Hernandez.
It's a bitter pill to swallow for Dodgers Nation, who showed up on Tuesday night looking for their team to beat up the Blue Jays.
Well, that didn't happen. Now the 2025 World Series moves to Game 5 on Wednesday night. While nothing has been announced yet, Blake Snell might get the Game 5 start for the Dodgers.
For Ohtani, it was a pretty pedestrian game from his standpoint. No big hits at the plate and a decent performance on the mound. Still, it was just not good enough on Tuesday night.
Fans watching the game in Toronto at Rogers Centre were on their feet while watching the Blue Jays take command of the game with their four-run outburst. Bieber picked up the win while Ohtani took the loss on Tuesday night.
This series has now turned into a best-of-three series. Toronto, if it can win on Wednesday night, would have things set up to potentially win another World Series championship on their home field.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had to sit and watch his bullpen, again, not be able to get the job done when needed. Will Klein, who was the star of Monday night's marathon, was not available to pitch on Tuesday night. He should be ready for Wednesday night if Roberts needs him.
Look for Game 5 to be an all-hands-on-deck situation for Los Angeles. The Dodgers surely want to get that Game 5 win, forcing the Blue Jays into a must-win situation on Friday night.
This is now a series, folks.
Game 4 moved along at a pretty good clip, finishing just a little over three hours in length.
All eyes will be on Snell, hoping that he can come out (should he get the ball for Game 5) and deliver a solid outing for the Dodgers.