LOS ANGELES — Both teams were tired after a marathon Game 3, but the Blue Jays showed it less than the Dodgers, breaking through with a four-run seventh inning in a 6-2 win for Toronto in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
A Fall Classic that was tied as late of the sixth inning of Game 1, in the seventh inning of Game 2, the 18th inning of Game 3, and a one-run game in the seventh inning of Game 4 is now, fittingly, tied at two games apiece.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got the
Blue Jays on the board with a two-run home run in the third inning, taking advantage of a sweeper that caught too much of the plate, for the first homer allowed by Shohei Ohtani this postseason. He allowed three home runs in 47 innings and 188 batters faced during the regular season.
Getting six innings with two runs allowed out of Ohtani had to be in the upper limit of expectations after running the bases nine times the night before. He was doing well enough, retiring 11 of his previous 12 batters through six innings and only at 90 pitches, which earned Ohtani a little more time.
But much like Game 4 of the NLCS, Ohtani couldn’t retire his two batters faced in the seventh. Only this time, instead of leading by four runs the Dodgers were trailing by one, and Toronto had two runners in scoring position after a Daulton Varsho double ended the pitching portion of Ohtani’s night.
Alex Vesia stranded those two Ohtani runners against Milwaukee 11 days ago, but he’s not on the active roster now. Anthony Banda is the preferred left-hander in the bullpen, and he allowed a single and groundout among his three batters to bring home both inherited runs. After retiring eight of nine batters faced in the NLCS, Banda has allowed five runs and recorded five outs in the World Series.
Blake Treinen followed with more bad relief, allowing run-scoring hits to Bo Bichette and Addison Barger to cap a four-run inning. Treinen has faced 25 batters this postseason and allowed 10 hits and two walks. In the World Series, it’s 10 batters faced against Treinen, six hits and a walk.
The Dodgers strung together a walk, single, and sacrifice fly in the second inning for a run, but that was it against Shane Bieber, who pitched into the sixth inning.
Los Angeles managed only six hits in the game.
World Series Game 4 particulars
Home run: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (7)
WP — Shane Bieber (1-1): 5 1/3 IP, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts
LP — Shohei Ohtani (2-1): 6+ IP, 6 hits, 4 runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Up next
The World Series is now a best-of-three affair that is guaranteed to return to Toronto. The Dodgers have one more chance to head back into Canada with a series lead with Game 5 on Wednesday night (5 p.m., Fox). It’s a pitching rematch of Game 1, with Blake Snell and Trey Yesavage first up on the mound for the final Dodger Stadium game of the year.
