The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig reacts after hitting an RBI single during the sixth inning of Game 5 of the National League Championship Series Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. L:os Angeles won the game, 5-2, to take a 3-2 series lead.Associated Press

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 and then exiting.

“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 Friday night in Milwaukee. The Brewers will start left-hander Wade Miley, who walked Cody Bellinger to open Game 5 before getting pulled in an interesting piece of strategy by manager Craig Counsell. Lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu will go 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 back-to-back World Series since losing to the Yankees in 1977 and `78. They were beaten 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 Cody Bellinger’s RBI single with two outs in a 13-inning game.