LOS ANGELES -- These days, it seems like every single Clayton Kershaw start has to be a referendum on how he performs in the playoffs versus the regular season. Sure enough, his NLCS Game 1 outing against the Brewers provided plenty of material for the folks who believe he is just terrible in the playoffs. 

Game 5 was a different story, though it looked early like it might head south. He staved that off and the Dodgers would win, 5-2. 

He was very good through two innings. After a strikeout to open the third, Kershaw allowed a single to eight-hole hitter Orlando Arcia and then walked Brandon Woodruff, the opposing pitcher. Then Lorenzo Cain doubled to center to score one run and it was second and third with one out for the meat of the order. 

It had the feel of one of Kershaw's playoff stinkers. He was missing spots. He was getting squared up. One couldn't help but think back to Game 1, when he couldn't get an out in the fourth inning. 

Instead, the people who think Kershaw lacks some sort of strong mental fortitude had their narrative blown to pieces. Kershaw rebounded and was brilliant the rest of the way. 

He struck Christian Yelich out swinging on a slider. He did walk Ryan Braun, but then he got Jesus Aguilar swinging on a slider. These two were key. First off, he limited the damage to one run when it could have fallen off the proverbial rails. Kershaw himself said it was important that he got out of that. 

"Anytime you can work yourself out of situations like that it's going to make or break the game," he said. "Minimizing damage as best you can as a starting pitcher is huge. In the playoffs, you probably don't get many chances to work out of jams because you're going to get taken out of the game because the magnitude of the game is so large." 

Secondly, he wasn't getting swings and misses with his slider last time out. That's not a figure of speech. He had zero swinging strikes with the slider in Game 1. 

In Game 5, Wednesday, Kershaw got 10 swings and misses with the slider. Quite the contrast and it was key to his rebound. 

In Game 1, Kershaw faced 18 batters and struck out two. In Game 5, he struck out nine of the 25 he faced. 

"It's just a classic case of he executed a lot of pitches today," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "He didn't execute in Milwaukee and he executed today. I don't think it was a vastly different game plan; it's simple execution."  

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed. 

"I think there was execution," Roberts said. "I think he sequenced much better today. He had his arm-side fastball and I think the slider from what I saw with the swings had the depth that we like. And so with any pitcher it comes down to execution, but you could see the same look that you always see, there's a determination and when you get a champion like him that gets hit around a little bit, he's going to respond and that's what he did today."  

Remember how Kershaw said that turned things around when he escaped that problematic third inning? 

"Once I was able to work out of that, really, just tried to focus on getting the next guy, next guy, next guy," Kershaw added. "And it happened to work out today."

And, boy, did he get the next guy, next guy, next guy ... 

Kershaw faced 12 hitters the rest of the way. He got 12 hitters out, meaning going back to the Aguilar strikeout, he retired the final 13 batters he faced. He was so good that he hit for himself in the bottom of the seventh with a 3-1 lead. He'd thrown 98 pitches, but Dave Roberts was going to stick with him. Plans changed after the Dodgers scored two runs, but this still goes to how good Kershaw was throwing the baseball after the third inning. And, really, he was only off his game for a few hitters that inning. He got Yelich and Aguilar when it mattered most. 

The final line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K.

"Today he was more spot on," Brewers leadoff man Lorenzo Cain said. "Backdoor cutters, he comes inside, flipping that breaking ball up there. His breaking ball was sharp today, definitely fooling us. It was a tough outing for us today."   

Quite simply: It looked like Kershaw was falling apart, and instead he turned in a gem to help give his team a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS. If the Dodgers win one more game and advance to the World Series, Kershaw is going to get another chance to completely silence his critics in the biggest stage.