LOS ANGELES — After his team dropped a heartbreaking 6-5 loss in Game 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday — an 18-inning instant classic that tied the longest matchup in World Series history — Blue Jays manager John Schneider was quick to point out his team’s season was far from over.
“The Dodgers didn’t win the World Series tonight,” he said. “They won a game.”
One night later, that mantra proved correct.
Toronto evened the World Series at two wins apiece after a 6-2 win on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. Game 5 is Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Los Angeles and regardless of the result will be followed in Canada on Friday night.
The Blue Jays trailed 1-0 in the third inning, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-run home run provided a 2-1 lead that was never relinquished. Toronto padded its advantage with a massive seventh inning when five hits drove in four runs.
“I was just looking for a pitch to do damage,” Guerrero said. “I saw it up in and in the zone and I could do damage.”
The Dodgers, trailing by five runs in the bottom of the ninth, got one run back when Teoscar Hernández was driven in from third, but it was too little, too late.
Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber got the win after he allowed one earned run on four hits over 5 ⅓ innings. Shohei Ohtani, the two-way superstar who the night before set the record for most times on base in a postseason, took the loss by surrendering four earned runs on six hits over six innings.
Bieber “came in focused like a veteran pitcher should,” Schneider said. “I thought he settled into the game really well. ... He made pitches. It was fun to watch him navigate that. I’m really happy for him for the last year and a half journey he’s been on. To go out there and do that, that was awesome.”
Bieber was asked after the game whether pitching in the World Series lived up to his expectations.
“Yeah, it was awesome. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to start for the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series to even out the series,” he said. “Now we just got to get two more.”
Game 5 will feature the same pitching matchup from Game 1 between Los Angeles’ Blake Snell and Toronto’s Trey Yesavage. In that game — which ended in an 11-4 win for the Blue Jays — Snell took the loss after he allowed eight hits, three walks and five earned runs over five innings.
Pitching aside, the Dodgers’ lineup has largely struggled in the World Series. Per NBC Sports, if Ohtani is removed from the lineup, Los Angeles is hitting just .200 over 145 at-bats.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the lineup hasn’t “found our rhythm” thus far against Toronto.
“It sort of draws dead at certain parts of the lineup — different parts, different innings, different games,” he said. “Guys are competing. Certainly, in the postseason you’re seeing everyone’s best. My hope is we regroup tomorrow, gather the information we have from Yesavage and keep him in the hitting zone.”
The Dodgers' offense needs to win a game
.200 over 145 at-bats. That’s what the Dodgers besides Shohei Ohtani have hit in the World Series. The Dodgers averaged 5.09 runs per game during the regular season, but in 12 games since the start of the NLDS, they’ve topped that total just once, scoring six times in 18 innings in Game 3 yesterday. It’s past time for Dodgers hitters to let their starting pitchers off the hook for once and win a game by themselves.
There was at least one positive sign tonight, in that the slumping Mookie Betts managed a couple of hard-hit lineouts before a soft single in the eighth (the first hit anyone has had off Chris Bassitt in the postseason). Slotted in behind Ohtani in the order, Betts needs to start making the Blue Jays pay when Ohtani reaches base. He went 6-for-9 in the wild-card sweep of the Reds, but he’s since gone 9-for-41 with three RBI in 12 games, even as he’s struck out just six times.
FINAL: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 2
Alex Call's deep fly ball to center field died at the track, and that does it. The series is tied at 2.
Dodgers get one back
Hernandez scored on a fielder's choice to make it 6-2, but we're down to the final out.
Dodgers threatening
After Teoscar Hernández walked, Max Muncy doubled down the right field line. We have runners on second and third with no outs.
We head to the bottom of the ninth
The Dodgers held Toronto scoreless in the top of the ninth and now have a five-run deficit to overcome in the bottom of the ninth.
6-1 Toronto.
Do the Dodgers have another comeback in them?
After leaving the Blue Jays scoreless in the top of the 8th, the Dodgers come up with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith trailing 6-1.
If the comeback is going to start, it better be here.
Bassitt continues to come up big
A career starting pitcher, Chris Bassitt was going to have the chance to contribute only as a reliever this month after missing the final two weeks of the regular season and the ALDS with a back injury. The Jays activated him for the ALCS, and he’s quickly established himself as one of the key weapons in their pen.
His perfect seventh tonight put him up to 5 2/3 hitless innings for the postseason. He’s faced just one batter over the minimum, walking Teoscar Hernández in Game 1 of the World Series.
Bassitt, a free agent after the series, will surely go back to starting next year, but this showing out of the pen will make him extra intriguing to contenders as a free agent; it seems important that even if he can’t quite crack an elite team’s postseason rotation, he can still help in October.
The Blue Jays continue to pour it on
Toronto up 6-1 after a four-run inning in the seventh. Dodger Stadium, which has been raucous all night, just got quiet.
Blue Jays add to lead
In the top of the seventh, Andrés Giménez singled and later moved to third on a double from Ernie Clement. Daulton Varsho's single on a line drive to right field drove in Giménez for a 3-1 lead.
Bieber saves best for last
Shane Bieber’s first career World Series start was a very good one, as he wound up allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings and left with a 2-1 lead against the Dodgers.
It’s the fourth time in four postseason starts that Bieber has exited with a lead. The Jays did wind up losing his ALDS start against the Yankees, but they won both of his outings against the Mariners.
Bieber still could pitch in relief if the World Series returns to Toronto, but he’s done as a starter in October. Unlikely to pick up his modest player option for 2026, he’s set to enter free agency for the first time this winter, and he’s done enough to re-establish himself as one of the top five starters available alongside pitchers like Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Ranger Suárez.
