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.


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. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 33 Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger dives but can’t make the catch on a single by Brewers’ Lorenzo Cain in the first inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 33 Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws a pitch against the Brewers in the fifth inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Before the game, Roberts wondered how long Milwaukee would stick with starter Wade Miley. He also wondered who might start Game 6 on Friday for the Brewers. The answer emerged after one batter: It was Miley.


Penciled in the lineup as the starting pitcher, Miley effectively threw a bullpen session. He walked leadoff hitter Cody Bellinger on five pitches. Brewers manager Craig Counsell emerged from the dugout. Into the game loped Brandon Woodruff, a converted starter capable of logging multiple innings — and a man who had homered off Kershaw in Game 1.

The decision looked confounding on the surface. Why start a pitcher for only one at-bat? The Brewers were attempting to bait the Dodgers into loading up their lineup with right-handed hitters to face the left-handed Miley. Roberts countered by sticking with left-handed hitters like Bellinger and Max Muncy to prevent exploitation. “We were prepared for anything,” Roberts said.

The onus for the afternoon still resided with Kershaw. He aimed to atone for Game 1. The Brewers hounded him that day at Miller Park, spoiling his fastballs and sliders, which resided perilously close in velocity. Kershaw generated zero swinging strikes with his slider, which he threw more than his fastball this season.

As Kershaw regrouped with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, they decided to increase the usage of his curve, the beautiful bender that first endeared him to the sport. Kershaw chose the pitch only 10 times in Game 1; he spun 21 curves in Game 5.


“You always want a speed separator,” Honeycutt said. “Everybody is talking about how the fastball and the slider are the same speed.” The curveball, he explained, would make the lack of differentiation between the other two pitches less problematic. “A separator of speed puts that doubt in their mind,” he said.

Kershaw flipped two curveballs over the plate in the first at-bat of the game. He put away outfielder Ryan Braun with a pair of whiffs on sliders. Kershaw finished the second inning by fooling third baseman Mike Moustakas with another slider.

He was not impervious. Milwaukee dented Kershaw in the third, with a single by shortstop Orlando Arcia, a walk by Woodruff and an RBI double by outfielder Lorenzo Cain. With the bases loaded, Kershaw punched out first baseman Jesus Aguilar with a 90-mph slider to limit the onslaught. The inning required 32 pitches, but kept the Dodgers close.

“Any time you can work yourself out of situations like that, that’s going to make or break the game,” Kershaw said. “Minimizing damage as best you can as a starting pitcher is huge.”


The Dodgers evened the game in the fifth. Chris Taylor hit an infield single, took second base on a throwing error and stole third base. Austin Barnes tied the game by stroking a single into center.

With Kershaw due up, Yasiel Puig was loosening up in the on-deck circle as Barnes batted. Roberts later admitted this was a ruse. Kershaw was not leaving the game, even if Barnes made an out.

As the shadows began to creep over the diamond, Kershaw gobbled up outs. He kept flashing the curveball, using it as more than a decoy. “Now they have to try to see the ball a little longer, and might get beat with fastballs or get beat with sliders,” third baseman Justin Turner said. “Where before it seemed like they were all over the hard stuff.”

Kershaw struck out two in the fifth. Aguilar waved at a 74-mph curve to finish the sixth. In the bottom of the inning, the offense built Kershaw a lead with RBI singles from Muncy and Puig.


The advantage was safe. Kershaw opened the seventh by fanning infielder Hernan Perez with a curve. He scooped up two more outs on the ground and trotted back to his dugout.

With 98 pitches on his tab, Kershaw would not return to the mound. But Roberts let him hit in the bottom of the seventh. He walked, which set the table for a two-run rally. Bellinger doubled, Turner clapped an RBI single and Brian Dozier drove in a run with a grounder.

A hug from Roberts awaited Kershaw in the dugout. The Dodgers would ask no more from their ace. His day was done, but he was far from endangered.

“It doesn’t matter what happens,” Turner said. “When we know he’s getting the ball, we’re all excited about it.”


andy.mccullough@latimes.com

Twitter: @McCulloughTimes