Kershaw, Los Angeles battle back
Muncy’s sixth-inning single knocks in winner; Dodgers lead series, 3-2
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw bounced back from one of his worst postseason starts with one of his best, pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2, Wednesday to move one win from a return trip to the World Series.
The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead in the NL Championship Series, boosted by Max Muncy’s go-ahead single in the sixth inning.
Kershaw held the lead, scoring an insurance run in the seventh before leaving.
“To go back to Milwaukee up 3-2 as opposed to being down 3-2 is huge for us,” Kershaw said.
“It’s been a battle every single game we’ve played them so far, and we don’t expect anything different when we go back.”
Game 6 is scheduled for Friday night in Milwaukee.
The Brewers again will start lefthander Wade Miley, who walked Cody Bellinger to open Game 5 before getting pulled in an interesting piece of strategy by manager Craig Counsell. Lefthander Hyun-Jin Ryu is scheduled to start for the Dodgers.
“We’re in a good spot, man,” Counsell said. “We’re going back home, to me, in a position of strength.”
The Dodgers haven’t been in consecutive World Series since losing to the New York Yankees in 1977 and ‘78, and they were eliminated by Houston in Game 7 last year.
The teams reconvened less than 15 hours after the Dodgers eked out a 2-1 victory Tuesday night on Bellinger’s RBI single with two outs in a 13-inning game that lasted more than five hours.
Kershaw was well-rested and masterful in allowing one run and three hits over seven innings. He struck out nine, all on breaking pitches, and walked two.
Kershaw recovered from the shortest postseason start of his career. He lasted just three innings in losing the NLCS opener while giving up five runs — four earned — at Miller Park.
“I don’t know if it was that much better, just a little bit better execution maybe,” Kershaw said of his repertoire Wednesday as opposed to the one he displayed last week in Milwaukee.
“Maybe I threw some more curveballs today than I did in Game 1.”
The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner pitched in and out of trouble in the third, when the Brewers loaded the bases and scored their only run. Kershaw struck out Jesus Aguilar to end the third, the first of 13 consecutive batters that the left-hander retired.
Milwaukee’s Curtis Granderson hit an RBI double in the ninth inni ng.
Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers’ third pitcher of the ninth, came in for the last two outs and earned the save.
Brewers star Christian Yelich, who nearly won the NL Triple Crown this season, was hitless in four atbats. He is 3 for 20 without an RBI in the NLCS.
The Dodgers’ offense broke loose with five runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and had the sellout crowd of 54,502 on its feet whipping blue towels and cheering loudly.
The team that hit a franchise and NL-leading 235 home runs in the regular season won this game by playing small ball, driving in all but one of its runs with singles.
Tied 1-all, Muncy grounded a 1-2 pitch from Brandon Woodruff into left field, scoring Justin Turner, who led off with a single. Yasiel Puig singled to center with two outs, bringing home Manny Machado after he was hit by a pitch from Corbin Burnes.
Los Angeles extended the lead to 5-1 in the seventh on Turner’s RBI single that scored Kershaw, who had walked, and pinch-hitter Brian Dozier’s RBI groundout.
Kershaw has struggled in the postseason during his career, with his numbers never matching his regularseason excellence.
But his outing Wednesday afternoon nearly matched what he did in Game 2 of the NL Division Series against Atlanta.
Kershaw allowed two hits over eight shutout innings. He also struck out three and walked none in the best postseason outing of his career.