Vladimir Guerrero Jr. helps Blue Jays tie World Series
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José de Jesus Ortiz, Founder & Editor in Chief
- October 29, 2025
Vladimir Guerrero Jr, a two-run home run for seventh homer of the postseason
LOS ANGELES – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was so exhausted after losing an 18-inning heartbreaker in Game 3 of the World Series, he didn’t have the energy to wallow or lose sleep. The Toronto Blue Jays’ All-Star slugger merely got his rest.
Guerrero returned to Dodger Stadium and delivered the two-run home run that propelled the Blue Jays to a 6-2 victory over Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in Game 4 on Tuesday night, tying the best-of-seven Fall Classic at two games apiece.
“To be honest, I slept like a baby,” Guerrero said in Spanish. “You know, it was a long game. Yeah, it hurts when you lose a game like that, but I was so tired that I just went to sleep.
The Blue Jays mounted a four-run rally in the seventh inning to pull away before a sellout crowd of 52,552. The tone, however, was set when the two biggest superstars – Guerrero and Ohtani – faced off in the third inning.
‘Very happy’
“Definitely I feel very happy, I mean, especially in that moment when we took the lead,” Guerrero said. “It was very important for me to hit that home run, and from that point on, we got going.”
Ohtani, the Dodgers’ two-way phenom, is arguably the best player in the majors. Guerrero is one of the few MLB superstars in Ohtani’s orbit. Trailing 1-0 with a runner on base and the count 2-1, Guerrero crushed Ohtani’s 85-mph sweeper over the left-center field wall.
“Yeah, I get that it’s easy to write Ohtani versus Guerrero,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “To us, it’s Toronto versus Los Angeles. But that swing was huge. A sweeper is a pitch designed to generate pop-ups, in my opinion.
“And the swing that Vlad put on it was elite. After last night and kind of all the recognition that went into Shohei individually and he’s on the mound today, it’s a huge swing from Vlad. It’s a huge swing to get us going. I think that gives you some momentum.”
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After losing an 18-inning heartbreaker in Game 3, the Blue Jays didn’t get back to their team hotel until about 1 a.m. Ohtani at least had the luxury of sleeping in his own bed, but he said he didn’t get to sleep until 2 a.m. after playing in the instant classic that lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes. By comparison, they needed only 2:54 to play Game 4.
Return to guaranteed
Now the best-of-seven Fall Classic is guaranteed to return to Toronto for Game 6 on Friday. First, however, they must play Game 5 at Dodger Stadium tonight.
“Obviously, looking back in hindsight, it was just a regrettable pitch, something I wish that I could have taken back,” Ohtani said of the sweeper Guerrero crushed. “It was just a bad spot, that location.
Ohtani took the loss. He gave up four runs on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts. He was pulled after failing to retire the first two batters of four-run seventh.
Daulton Varsho led off the seventh with a single to right. Then Ernie Clement put runners on second and third with a double to left-center. Lefty Anthony Banda took over against Andres Gimenez, who gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 lead with an RBI single to left.
Dodgers had no answer
One out later, Ty France made it 4-1 with an RBI groundout to second. Dave Roberts then intentionally walked Guerrero before making another call to the bullpen. Bo Bichette greeted right-hander Blake Treinen with an RBI single off the left field wall. Addison Barger followed with an RBI single up the middle.
“It was a Blue Jay inning, Varsh, Ernie, and then you kind of went to work,” Schneider said. “But the swing from Vlad was a game-changer.”
One night after using nine pitchers in Game 3, the Blue Jays needed only four. Shane Bieber held the Dodgers to one run and four hits over 5 ⅓ innings. Mason Fluharty, who gave up one run over one-third of an inning in Game 3, threw two-thirds of a scoreless inning of relief.
Right-hander Chris Bassitt pitched two scoreless innings a night after throwing one inning. Louis Varland gave up a run in the ninth to seal the victory.
“I think that we knew it was going to be a great series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “This team is talented. They’re resilient — talking about the Blue Jays and they came back fighting, caught an early lead. Bieber does what he does and used the cutter, spun us, minimized damage, limited traffic, and we really didn’t get a whole lot of good swings.
“Conversely, you see these guys grinding and using the whole field and putting some hits together and, obviously, the homer by Vlad and, you know, that seventh inning, they built an inning right there. We just didn’t have an answer.”
José de Jesus Ortiz
Founder & Editor in Chief
Award-winning writer José de Jesus Ortiz, a former lead sports columnist at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has covered Major League Baseball since 1997 in Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, New York and Houston. He was the first Latino to serve as president of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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