Blue Jays silence Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers to even the World Series at two games apiece following Game 4 win

Under the soft orange and pink hue of a Los Angeles sunset, with the Hollywood Hills shimmering in the distance and celebrities dotting the seats like constellations in Chavez Ravine, Game 4 of the 2025 World Series unfolded like a script no one wearing Dodger blue would ever want to read. 

Shohei Ohtani made his World Series debut as a starting pitching and his shooting star crashed down to earth, allowing four runs in the loss, as the Toronto Blue Jays evened the 2025 World Series at two games apiece following their 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. 

For the fourth consecutive night, the Dodgers struck first — a familiar rhythm that had lulled this crowd into belief. Kiké Hernández lifted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning, and the sound of 56,000 voices swelled in unison. 

But this October, belief has proven fleeting. Because for the second time in this Fall Classic, the Blue Jays reminded everyone that stars rise brightest under pressure — and few shine hotter than Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

In the top of the third, Guerrero Jr. — the postseason’s most dangerous hitter and its emotional epicenter — turned Ohtani’s long-awaited World Series pitching debut into a fleeting dream. 

One swing, one blur of bat speed, one deep, majestic drive that carried into the cool night air and disappeared beyond the left-field wall. The sound off his bat — a cannon shot through a canyon — silenced the stadium and flipped the game. Two runs. A lead Toronto would never surrender.

It was a cruel symmetry for Ohtani, whose two-way brilliance has so often made the game seem mythic. But Tuesday night belonged to a different ace, a different kind of star — one whose mastery is measured not in spectacle but in stillness.

Shane Bieber, the 2020 American League Cy Young winner, looked as if he had been born for nights like this — calm, composed, deliberate. His fastball wasn’t overpowering, but it was precise, cutting through Los Angeles’ thunderous lineup like a surgeon’s scalpel. 

Over 5⅓ innings, Bieber allowed just one run on four hits, walking three and striking out three. He didn’t need to dominate — he just needed to dictate. And he did.

Every inning he lasted felt like Toronto tightening its grip on the game, on the series, on its own sense of destiny.

By the seventh inning, the Blue Jays broke it open. Ohtani, whose velocity still carried its usual ferocity, began to show signs of fatigue after that 18-inning marathon the night before that saw Ohtani reach base safely nine different times. A leadoff single, then another. The Dodgers’ bullpen door swung open, but no one could stop the storm. 

Anthony Banda and Blake Treinen combined to pour gasoline on the fire — and Toronto’s lineup, patient and relentless, turned it into a blaze. When the dust settled, four more runs had crossed the plate.

Six runs in total. A commanding 6–1 lead. And the sudden, cold reality that Toronto wasn’t just visiting Los Angeles — they were conquering it.

Ohtani’s final line told a story of brilliance undone by one bad inning: four runs on six hits, one walk, and six strikeouts across six innings. It wasn’t the homecoming Dodgers fans envisioned for their global superstar, who entered to roars that felt cinematic and exited to uneasy silence.

And while the scoreboard was harsh, the setting was pure Hollywood. The City of Stars had come out in force — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seated a few rows from Brad Pitt, Christy Martin chatting with Sydney Sweeney. Connie Britton. Donald Glover, Will.i.am, Catherine O’Hara, James Marsden, Austin Butler, Tobey Maguire, even LeBron James — all bearing witness to the spectacle that is October baseball in Los Angeles.

But the real artistry came from the visitors in royal blue, who painted Dodger Stadium with their bats and buried the ghosts of missed opportunities.

With the 6–2 win, the Blue Jays evened the World Series at two games apiece — a best-of-three now looming, with momentum squarely in Toronto’s hands as they guaranteed the series would head north to Canada this weekend.

In a city built on stars, it was the visitors who stole the spotlight.

Now, it’s anyone’s series. Two teams, two cities, two games apiece — destiny waiting to be written.