The opposing starter had departed after facing only one batter, but there Clayton Kershaw stood, on the mound in the center of Dodger Stadium, a living, breathing anachronism for seven innings in an 5-2 victory in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. The starting pitcher may be going the way of the dodo, but Kershaw is still holding firm, even as his fastball dims and his mileage increases. He is not ready for extinction. The 2018 season has not been easy on Kershaw. He hurt his shoulder. He hurt his back. Some days hurt his pride. Few games looked worse than the opening night of this series, when the Brewers disposed of him in three-plus innings. Undaunted by the worries about his pitch mix and his psyche, he roared back Wednesday, carving up Milwaukee’s lineup with nine strikeouts to give the Dodgers a 3-2 series lead and deposit the team on the doorstep of another World Series. “When you get a champion like him, that gets hit around a little bit, he’s going to respond,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And that’s what he did today.” It is too soon to crown Kershaw. The Dodgers still require five victories to secure the trophy that this city and this franchise have craved since 1988. After a season of discontent, they are on the verge of securing back-to-back pennants for the first time since 1977-1978. Advertisement Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw on what it means to be up 3-2 in the NLCS. To get there, the Dodgers required a vintage effort from their ace. He learned from his missteps in Game 1, reshaping his approach to silence the Milwaukee offense. On a day when the Brewers attempted to reinvent the wheel, Kershaw ran them over. Kershaw permitted one run and three hits. He retired the last 13 batters he faced. In the days between his outings, he sharpened his slider and unearthed his curveball. The two pitches complemented each other while protecting his fastball. The Brewers looked flummoxed as Kershaw trusted the curve early in the count, then defensive as he ended at-bats with sliders. To support him, the Dodgers’ offense deviated from their usual strategy of slugging and slumping by making productive outs, slapping singles and running with abandon. On multiple occasions, Kershaw has joked that if he wins the World Series, he might retire. The chase has lasted a decade now. Along the way, he experienced injury and exhaustion and exultation. Never before has he looked as vulnerable as he has at times this season. Yet here he stands, on the precipice of the oasis. “It wasn’t as easy maybe as last year to get to this point,” Kershaw said. “But if you would have told us in spring training we would have a chance to go back to the World Series, one game to go, we definitely would have taken that.” Hyun-Jin Ryu will start Game 6 on Friday at Miller Park, with Walker Buehler holstered for Game 7. Ryu will face the same pitcher listed as the starter Wednesday for Milwaukee. After their bullpen was torched in the 13-inning marathon of Game 4, the Brewers tried some subterfuge. 1 / 33 Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is congratulated by Yasiel Puig after scoring a run. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig celebrates while running out an RBI single in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 33 Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw shows an emotional outburst while pitching against the Brewers in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 33 Dodgers Clayton Kershaw pumps his fist after inducing Brewers hitter Erik Kratz to ground out to shortstop Manny Machado to end the seventh inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 33 Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig is brushed back off the plate with an inside pitch in the eighth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig takes a bow in front of the Dodgers bench after he apparently stole third base in the eighth inning in game five of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium. The play was nullified and he went back to second base. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 33 Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig slides safely to second base after hitting a double in the eighth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 33 Dodgers Clayton Kershaw celebrates after scoring a run against the Brewers in the 7th inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig slides safely into second base with an eighth inning double as Brewers second baseman Hernan Perez is late with the tag. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig celebrates hitting a double in the eighth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 33 Clayton Kershaw scores a run on Justin Turner’s RBI against the Brewers in the 7th inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 33 Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw raises his arms after scoring on a double by Justin Turner in the seventh inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig celebrates while running out an RBI single in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 33 Dodgers Yasiel Puig celebrates while running out an RBI single in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 33 Dodgers Justin Turner is congratulated after scoring a run in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 33 Dodgers pinch hitter Yasiel Puig celebrates his RBI single against the Brewers inthe 6th inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 33 Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig hits an RBI single scoring Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado in the sixth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 33 Dodgers Max Muncy is tagged out by Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia after a rundown in the sixth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 33 Clayton Kershaw watches the flight of a Mike Moustakas fly ball in the fourth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 33 Kiké Hernández shows frustration after striking out in the fifth inning in Game 5. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 33 Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor beats the throw to first base. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 33 Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw reacts after striking out Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar with the bases loaded in the third inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 33 Cody Bellinger walks slowly back to the dugout after striking out in the third inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 33 Justin Turner fields a fourth inning grounder and thows out Brewers hitter Hernan Perez. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 33 Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy tosses his helmet after striking out for the second time in the fourth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 33 Brewers pitcher Brandon Woodruff throws a pitch against the Dodgers in the fourth inning in Game 5 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium Wednesday. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 33 Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado breaks his bat on a ground out in there first inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 33 Lorenzo Cain is caught stealing and tagged out by second baseman Max Muncy. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 33 Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger beats the tag of Brewers second baseman Hernan Perez to steal a base in the first inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 33 Dodgers Justin Turner is hit by a pitch in the first inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 33 Brewers pitcher Wade Miley is pulled form the game by manger Craig Counsell in the 1st inning.<doc-sep>Harry How/Getty Images As he sat before reporters in a Dodger Stadium interview room, Clayton Kershaw kept coming back to one word: huge. Austin Barnes' game-tying single in the fifth inning? Huge. A 5-2 win in Game 5 to put his Los Angeles Dodgers up three games to two in the National League Championship Series? Huge. We all occasionally get stuck on one word, but Kershaw gets a break for one big (or should that be huge?) reason: Even in this era where we sometimes celebrate four-inning starts, the value of a truly dominant starting pitcher hasn't changed that much. It's still huge, which is why what Kershaw showed Wednesday did more than simply move the Dodgers within one win of returning to the World Series. The Kershaw who dominated Game 5 is the ace who can lead the Dodgers to a World Series title for the first time in 30 years. He's never done it before, not in any of those three seasons when he won a Cy Young Award, nor in the 2014 season when he was also the National League's Most Valuable Player. We remember the games where he fell short of greatness a lot more than the ones where he dominated, but that's all part of the burden of being who he is and pitching for the team he represents. No one has to remind Kershaw that the Dodgers haven't won a World Series since 1988. It came up again in a press conference this week. "No disrespect to 1988, we hear about that a lot," he said. "And I've said it before, but we are sick of it. And it's up to us to do something about it." Video Play Button Videos you might like It's up to all of them. Kershaw won't be starting Games 6 or 7 this weekend in Milwaukee, so he'll need to trust his teammates to get him to Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday in Boston or Houston. He'll need help from his hitters, just as he did after he fell behind 1-0 in the third inning Wednesday. That was the inning in which Kershaw walked the opposing pitcher and later walked Ryan Braun to load the bases with two outs after the Brewers had scored. It was also the inning in which he seemed to find himself, relying on sliders and curves to strike out Christian Yelich and Jesus Aguilar to keep 1-0 from becoming 3-0 or 4-0. The eight-pitch Aguilar strikeout ended the third, and though we didn't know it at the time, it basically ended the Brewers' night. The 1-0 lead wouldn't hold, and they didn't get another baserunner until Aguilar's two-out double off Ryan Madson in the ninth. It seemed they might get Kershaw out of the game in the fifth, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts readied Yasiel Puig to hit for Kershaw if Barnes made an out and the tying run remained on third base with two outs. Kershaw assumed he would be coming out in that situation, which is one reason he called Barnes' hit "huge." After the game, Roberts revealed he was going to stick with Kershaw regardless. Kershaw ended up going seven innings, allowing only one run on three hits with nine strikeouts. It was his 10th postseason start with no more than two runs and no more than four hits, matching Justin Verlander for second in history behind Roger Clemens' 11, per Baseball Reference. Jamie Squire/Getty Images Given the way we so often talk about Kershaw in October, you wouldn't think that. You'd think most of his starts were like his bad Game 1 in this NLCS, the game in which he went only three innings and gave up five runs (four earned). At his postgame press conference Wednesday, Kershaw said he wasn't looking for redemption after that clunker, just as he said he won't be looking back at Game 5 as a reason why he'll pitch well the next time. He simply believes in himself and his ability to win, just as the best starting pitchers always have. He believes it as much now, with a fastball that topped out at 92.5 mph and averaged 90.8, according to Brooks Baseball, as he did back when his average fastball was 93-94 mph and when his best fastballs would come in at 96 or 97. Kershaw doesn't want to say he has reinvented himself—in an interview that aired Wednesday, he told Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal that he still believes the velocity will return—but like all great pitchers, he knows how to win with what he has. "Just a classic case of he executed a lot of pitches," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said in his postgame press conference. Counsell has a fine team, but what he doesn't have is a Kershaw. Give the Brewers credit for cleverly making use of what they do have, and even for another unconventional move Wednesday, when they started left-hander Wade Miley but had him face only one batter before switching to right-hander Brandon Woodruff. "We were able to give Woody some matchups," Counsell said. The Dodgers are trying to get Kershaw another two or three matchups—in the World Series against either the Red Sox or Astros. And he's trying to get the World Series ring that would help define what is already a Hall of Fame career. Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.<doc-sep>Clayton Kershaw reflects on his impressive outing after the Dodgers' 5-2 victory and discusses the importance of going back to Milwaukee with a win. (0:54) LOS ANGELES -- Erik Kratz swung through a Clayton Kershaw curveball as if he had never seen a baseball move before. It was a 1-1 count in the top of the fourth inning Wednesday. The Milwaukee Brewers were leading by a run in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, and Kratz was noticeably jumpy. Kershaw's pitch began parallel with his chest and quickly dropped like an anvil, prompting an awkward half-swing and a deep exhale. It was the type of 12-to-6 curveball that made Kershaw a legend and has so often eluded him in recent years. MLB Postseason on ESPN Radio From the first pitch of every series to the last out of Game 7, you can catch the entire MLB postseason on ESPN Radio. Listen » Kratz swore he saw something different. "I think it was a changeup," he said playfully before being informed that Kershaw hardly ever throws one. "Oh, maybe that's why I swung so bad at it." Kershaw was in vintage form while pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-2 victory and a 3-2 lead in the NLCS. He completed seven innings, gave up one run, allowed five baserunners and struck out nine batters -- four more than he recorded in two previous postseason starts combined. Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes called it "prototypical Kershaw," largely because his trademark off-speed pitches were so effective. Perhaps motivated by the early start that forced batters to contend with the afternoon shadows, Kershaw threw sliders or curveballs on 67 percent of his pitches, tied for the second-highest percentage in any start of his 11-year career, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Eighty-five percent of his two-strike pitches were breaking balls, and all of his strikeouts came because of them. Seven of those punchouts came on the slider, as did 10 of the 19 swing-and-misses -- but the curveball was a separator. The shape and velocity of the pitch is an especially crucial weapon for Kershaw these days because a fastball that has steadily declined in velocity and a slider that has continually taken on the characteristics of a cutter appear so similar now. "My fastball and slider are pretty close in speed," Kershaw said. "If I'm able to throw that [curveball] over for strikes, it gives them a different speed and depth to look at. It's definitely important." Kershaw used to be defined by the big, loopy, over-the-top curveball that offset his devastating fastball-slider combination. It made him nearly unhittable. But the back injuries that have sent him to the disabled list each of the past three seasons have made it increasingly difficult for Kershaw to get over the top on that pitch and throw it effectively. This start looked like an exception.<doc-sep>
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images The Los Angeles Dodgers are one win away from the World Series after their 5-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5. The Brewers tried some trickery at the start of Wednesday's game with starter Wade Miley only facing one batter, but it didn't matter against Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers starter bounced back from a rough Game 1 outing to allow only one run allowed in seven innings. Yasiel Puig went 2-for-2 off the bench, including a clutch RBI single in the sixth inning, to help Los Angeles build a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series. Craig Counsell's Gamble Gave Brewers Best Chance to Win Series Wade Miley was the listed starter in Wednesday's game and pitched to the first batter, but that was the end of his night. Brewer manager Craig Counsell pulled Miley in place of Brandon Woodruff, who took over and struck out eight batters in 5.1 innings while allowing three runs (two earned). As Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports noted, this switch was the team's plan all along. Miley will instead pitch Game 6. Video Play Button Videos you might like The move was surprising, but there were several good reasons behind it: Los Angeles didn't go as righty-heavy against the left-handed Miley as it did in Game 1, but David Freese was still in the No. 3 spot in the lineup and was pulled after only one at-bat. Perhaps more importantly, the Brewers' rotation was not lined up well going forward. Not only was Miley starting on three days of rest, but Jhoulys Chacin also would have had to go on short rest in Game 6. With the team's lack of starting pitching depth, Game 7 would have been a complete mystery. Suddenly, the Brewers have their top two starters available on full rest in the next two games if needed, both of which will be at home. Meanwhile, this was more than just punting one game to get an advantage in the others. Woodruff had been one of the team's best pitchers down the stretch, and he put forth an excellent performance Wednesday. His 5.1 innings were his longest outing of the season. Though things went south the third time through the order, Woodruff gave the Brewers a chance to win and helped prove Counsell right, despite the loss. Clayton Kershaw Still Has More to Prove Before Changing Playoff Narrative It's almost undeniable that Kershaw has been the best pitcher in baseball over the past decade. The problem is his reputation has been held back due to his struggles in the playoffs. He has a career 2.39 ERA in the regular season, but he entered Wednesday with a 4.26 mark in the playoffs. That included a 5.24 ERA in 11 appearances in the NLCS. Kershaw did everything he could to show he was past his struggles Wednesday, going seven innings with only one run allowed on three hits. He also struck out nine batters while walking only two. He was aggressive with his curveball, which was especially impressive: As we have seen so many times throughout his MLB career, Kershaw was the biggest reason the Dodgers came away with a win. On the other hand, we have also seen him pitch well in the playoffs before, including when he shut down the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of this year's NLDS. The postseason monkey seemed to be off his back, but then he failed to get past the fourth inning in Game 1 of this series. Last year, he followed up a gem in Game 1 of the World Series with a dud in Game 5. When Kershaw is at his best, there is no one better in the game, but the Dodgers need him to be at least close to his best every time out when the stakes are this high. Failing to get out of the fifth inning won't get it done. As well as he pitched against the Brewers on Wednesday, one game in the NLCS will not define his legacy. If the Dodgers advance to World Series, Kershaw will need to produce more quality starts to change his negative playoff narrative. Brewers Won't Reach World Series Unless Christian Yelich Wakes Up Harry How/Getty Images Christian Yelich is the favorite to win MVP of the National League, and he is one of the biggest reasons the Brewers are still alive in the playoffs. However, he hasn't looked like himself so far this series.