Dodgers Recap: Jays Even Series as Bats are Quiet and Ohtani Gets the L

CHAVEZ RAVINE — Maybe Monday night was a mirage. It sure felt like on Tuesday, as Dodger pitching fell into a familiar pattern. Game Four in the 2025 World Series felt a lot like Game One. Tight for most of the game, and then the wheels fell off the apple cart in one bad inning. This time it was the top of the seventh that was the undoing of starter Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers. The Jays put up four runs in the frame, and cruised to a 6-2 victory. So now we’re all tied up at 2-2 in the World Series. Which means we’re going back to Toronto. Which means we had better win on Wednesday, or the task gets monumentally more difficult.

The game started with two quick out for Shohei, but a walk and an infield hit gave the inning a little stress before Ohtani got Alejandro Kirk to pop out on the first pitch he saw. After Toronto starter Shane Bieber pitched a scoreless first inning, Ohtani had a very short and stress-free second with a bunch of weak contact on the infield and only a few pitches.

Then, in the bottom of the inning, the Dodgers struck first. Max Muncy got a walk and advanced to third on a Tommy Edman single. Kiké Hernández lifted a high fly to left that almost had homerun distance, but ended up being plenty deep enough to score Muncy with the game’s first run.

The lead, alas, was short-lived. In the next inning, after a quick first out, Ohtani came down to earth a little bit. Nathan Lukes ripped a well-hit single into right, and then Vladdy Jr. finally had his day. Shohei left a 2-1 sweep in the heart of the plate and Guerrero didn’t miss. A two-run no-doubter, his first extra-base hit of the series. And with that one swing a one-run advantage was suddenly a one-run deficit.

After that both starters settled in, and traded zeroes. Mostly out of necessity rather than game-planning, the managers rode their starters as long as they would go. For Bieber it was 5.1 innings of one-run ball. There’s a reason the guy has a Cy Young, but it was a disappointing showing against the Number Four starter in the Toronto rotation.

However, it was in that inning in which Bieber was yanked that the Dodgers had their best scoring chance of the night. They had men on first and second with one out when Bieber was pulled in favor of lefty Mason Fluharty. But the Dodgers failed to score, setting up the disaster that awaited them in the seventh.

Meanwhile, Shohei was looking very sharp other than the Vladdy blast in the third. But then he hit a wall. He gave up a leadoff single in the seventh to Daulton Varsho and then a double to Ernie Clement. And that sealed his fate. With runners and second and third, Anthony Banda came in to quell the fire and he… did not. Andres Gimenez singled to left to score the Jays’ third run of the game, and then after a lineout, an infielder grounder scored another. Vladdy Jr. was intentionally walked, but Blake Treinen came in and gave up two more runs. It was 6-1 Blue Jays, and the game was essentially over. Given the strong showing from Henriquez and Klein on Monday, one wonders how long Treinen can rely on the back of his baseball card to remain inside Dave Roberts‘ circle of trust.

As for Ohtani, he pitched about as well as could be expected given the strain that being on base nine times in the previous game surely took on him. Though, he didn’t look particularly fatigued out there, it was a hot night, and it was a miracle that he even made it through six. Had Doc any other options in the bullpen, that might have been all they asked Ohtani to do. But similar to Game One, they tried to squeeze those extra three outs out of the starter and it blew up in the Dodgers’ faces. His final line for the night: 6.0+ IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 8 K.

However, truth be told, this all could have been solved with a little run support. The Dodgers were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and given their futility in that stat this postseason, it’s a wonder they’re as close to the title as they are. Scoring only two run through eight innings puts far too much pressure on an already overtaxed pitching staff. The seventh wasn’t great, but the game was over pretty quickly after that. The Dodgers scored an additional run in the 9th on an RBI groundout, but that wasn’t even enough to make the game interesting.

After an epic game like the Dodgers played on Monday night, you could expect a little letdown the next day. But the Jays were ready to pounce when the bullpen door opened, and the Dodgers didn’t have any answers. At least, with Jack Dreyer eating the final two innings, the rest of the pen got a chance to reset and will be at pretty much full strength on Wednesday should Blake Snell need the assistance.

So we’re tied. There will be no celebration on Wednesday night, and the bottles of champagne will have to make the crosscountry flight. We’re back to the front of the rotation for the Dodgers. A best 2-out-of-3 with Snell, Yamamoto, and Johnny Wholestaff lined up to pitch. Call me crazy, but I still think the Dodgers are in the driver’s seat. It would have been nice to win the series at home, but now the focus shifts to winning the series at all. A win at home on Wednesday will go a long way toward achieving that.

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