Blue Jays defeat Dodgers 6-2 in Game 4 to even World Series at two each

.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.

Alex Call's deep fly ball to center field died at the track, and that does it. The series is tied at 2.

Hernandez scored on a fielder's choice to make it 6-2, but we're down to the final out.

After Teoscar Hernández walked, Max Muncy doubled down the right field line. We have runners on second and third with no outs.

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.

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.

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.

Toronto up 6-1 after a four-run inning in the seventh. Dodger Stadium, which has been raucous all night, just got quiet.

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.

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.

Shohei Ohtani was cruising through six, but after back-to-back hits, he’s quickly done after throwing just three pitches in the seventh. It was the first time since returning from elbow surgery that Ohtani was asked to pitch into the seventh.

Anthony Banda is the first reliever in tonight.

Shohei Ohtani’s velocity was down early tonight, but it seems like that was by design. He hit 99 mph on the gun twice while facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the fifth, and he’s now retired 11 of 12 batters since giving up Guerrero’s homer in the third.

Most likely, Ohtani is done after 90 pitches, though it has to be tempting to ask more from him after the 18-inning game last night. He’s yet to throw more than six innings since returning from elbow surgery, and his season high for pitches in 100, which was from last time out in the NLCS win over the Brewers.

Ohtani also made quick work of the Blue Jays in the sixth, getting Bo Bichette to fly out, Addison Barger to ground out and Alejandro Kirk to strike out.

It remains 2-1 Blue Jays in the bottom of the sixth.

Although he wasn’t immediately needed, Louis Varland started warming up in the Blue Jays pen as Shane Bieber pitched to the Dodgers in the fifth. One imagines we’ll see him before the end of the sixth, and once it happens, it’ll be his 13th appearance in the Jays’ 16 postseason games. He worked four times in the ALCS and six times in the ALCS. This would be his third appearance of the World Series.

Varland, acquired by the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, never wanted to become a reliever in the first place, but he seems to have found his niche after going 4-10 with a 5.18 ERA in 23 career starts for the Twins. He has a 4.15 ERA and a 15/2 K/BB in 13 innings during the postseason.

Bieber got Andy Pages to fly out and struck out Shohei Ohtani on a called strike, and Mookie Betts lined out on the first pitch he saw.

2-1 Blue Jays as we enter the sixth inning.

While Nathan Lukes got a a line drive hit to center field, Ohtani was able to strike out Andrés Giménez and get fly outs from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The Dodgers got one on the board in the second to open the scoring in Game 4, but with a chance to do some additional damage with two outs, Andy Pages flew out to center. He fell to 1-for-14 in the World Series and 4-for-49 with one RBI and an 11/0 K/BB in 14 postseason games.

Tommy Edman’s unscripted return to center field yesterday’s 18-game led one to wonder whether Pages might get bumped tonight. However, the Dodgers still want Edman to play the infield to minimize the amount of running he’s doing on his troublesome ankle. They could use Alex Call in left and Kiké Hernández in center, but they’ve thus far decided the defensive downgrade isn’t worth it. Still, they might decide again to make a change in game, as they in the 13th last night.

Ohtani faced Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho and Ernie Clement and struck out all of them for a clean fourth.

After having reached in 11 straight plate appearances, including the last six via walks, Shohei Ohtani struck out against Shane Bieber to begin the bottom of the third, ending a record World Series streak.

Ohtani had been one away from matching the all-time postseason streak of reaching in 12 straight appearances, which teammate Max Muncy set in the 2024 NLCS against the Mets.

The Dodgers' lead was short-lived as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a two-run homer off Ohtani in the third, putting Toronto up 2-1.

After Max Muncy walked, he was moved to third base on a single by Tommy Edman to center field. Enrique Hernández's sacrifice fly to right fielder Addison Barger allowed Muncy to tag and score for a 1-0 lead.

Ohtani was in absolute peak form on the mound against the Brewers last time out, throwing fastballs 100.3 and 100.2 mph in the first inning on his way to shutting out Milwaukee for six innings. In the first inning tonight, though, his hardest pitch was 98.4 mph, which is right what his average fastball was during the regular season.

He averaged 97.7 mph on his 10 fastballs. That doesn’t seem like much of a problem if he maintains it, but if he fades some as the game goes along, as he tends to do, he could prove more hittable than usual.

Ohtani opened with a popup from Nathan Lukes and struck out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Bo Bichette walked and Addison Barger singled, but Alejandro Kirk popped out for the final out.

In the bottom half, Ohtani walked, but Mookie Betts flew out, Freddie Freeman lined out and Will Smith's hard-hit ball to center field died at the track.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider played it coy today, declining to reveal whether he’d have his pitchers keep intentionally walking Shohei Ohtani after they did so four times last night. On paper, it’s the wrong move to give even someone as skilled as Ohtani a free pass, especially when he’s coming up with none on and none out, but there is one caveat tonight: Making him stand on base for a few minutes every time up might make his pitching recovery more difficult.

Ohtani on the mound pitching to Nathan Lukes, who just flew out to left field on an acrobatic catch.

Kevin Millar joins "The Dan Patrick Show" to share his thoughts on Shohei Ohtani's stunning performance for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays.

According to MLB, Toronto stranded 19 runners on base, the most ever by a single club in a World Series game, surpassing the previous mark of 15 done six times, most recently by the Astros and the White Sox in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.

Combined, the two clubs stranded 37 runners, the most in a World Series game. It surpassed the previous record of 30, set in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.

The Blue Jays had a World Series record 67 at-bats in the game, surpassing the previous mark of 61 by the Dodgers in Game 3 in 2018. Along with the Dodgers' 63 at-bats, the 130 combined at-bats were the most in a World Series game, surpassing the previous record of 118 by the Dodgers and the Red Sox in 2018.

The Dodgers star played down the epic nature of his homer to seal a game that officially lasted six hours and 39 minutes.

“I was just trying to get on base against a tough lefty, sinkerballer,” Freeman said after the marathon Game 3. “I got it to a 3-2 count and put a good swing on it.”

He said he felt “just pure excitement,” adding: “That’s as good as it gets.”

Ohtani just had one of the best hitting performances of all time last night, setting the record for most times on base in a postseason game. He finished with two home runs, two doubles and four intentional walks.

And mere hours later, he's pitching.

Last night's game tied for the longest game in World Series history with the Red Sox at the Dodgers in 2018. The only player who was on both sides of it? Mookie Betts, who played for Boston at the time.

After 18 innings, tying the record for a World Series game, there didn't appear to be an end in sight. Until Freddie Freeman came to the plate.

After a grueling 18-inning game, Dave Roberts told his team to "be ready to go tomorrow."

Forty-four 44 players were used in Game 3 (23 by Toronto, 21 by L.A.), the second most in a World Series game, per Elias. The 19 pitchers used last night are the most in World Series history, surpassing 2018, when the Red Sox and Dodgers each used nine pitchers in Game 3.

The Dodgers used 10 pitchers in last night’s game, setting a World Series record. Previously, nine pitchers had been used by the Dodgers in Game 3 in 2018, the Red Sox in Game 3 in 2018, the Dodgers in Game 2 in 2017 and the White Sox in Game 3 in 2005.

The Blue Jays used nine pitchers, the third time in World Series history that each club used at least eight pitchers in a single game.