"We'll see, won't we?" Yost said with a shrug.

When the ninth inning rolled around it was indeed Gagne who trotted in from the bullpen to a surprisingly warm reception from the 26,465 fans who had seen their closer struggle to the point of declaring himself unfit for the ninth inning just three days earlier.

This time they saw Gagne earn a double-dose of redemption. He was reinstated as the Brewers' closer and then blanked his former team, notching his 10th save in Milwaukee's 5-3 win over the Dodgers at Miller Park.

"A little relief," Gagne said, and he did not intend the pun.

It was also a relief for Yost, who worried about blowing up the rest of his bullpen without a set closer. After Gagne lost to the Cardinals on Saturday and expressed his "embarrassment" at the way he was pitching, Yost used Gagne in the seventh and eighth innings of a blowout game Monday night. When Yost checked in with Gagne on Tuesday afternoon, Gagne declared himself ready to go.

Was it a gamble to go back to him so soon?

"It's always a gamble," Yost said. "But, you know what? You still have to trust your people. You have to understand that he's our closer.

"I've never been one to protect myself. Sure, I could not pitch him, so that nobody thinks I'm stupid for pitching him, but I've never done that. I believe and I trust in my guys, and Eric Gagne is my closer and I wanted him back out there. I wanted him back in that role."

The Brewers trailed, 3-1, entering the fifth inning but rallied against Dodgers starter Brad Penny (5-4) for three runs and the lead. Red-hot outfielder Ryan Braun hit a go-ahead, two-run double and scored on a Prince Fielder single to back starter Carlos Villanueva (2-4), who won for the first time in five weeks and seven starts.

Villanueva moved to the third-base side of the rubber and got positive results after some hiccups in the early innings. He surrendered three runs, two earned, on eight hits, but he didn't walk a batter and had retired nine of the last 10 hitters he faced through the top of the sixth inning.

When Villanueva's spot in the batting order came with a runner on second base and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Yost opted for offense, sending up pinch-hitter Gabe Kapler and ending Villanueva's night at the 82-pitch mark.

"As far as I was concerned, with what has gone on for him lately, he had done his job and I wanted him out of there with a chance to win the ballgame," Yost said. "I felt like he could leave on a really, really good note and build on that."

"I still have work to do," Villanueva said, "but I feel a lot better today."

Kapler lined out and so did catcher Jason Kendall as the rally fizzled, but the damage was already done. Salomon Torres worked two scoreless innings in front of Gagne as the Brewers won for the fourth time in five games and sent the Dodgers to their fifth straight loss.

Gagne entered the game to his usual Guns 'n' Roses soundtrack, and the majority of fans in the stands welcomed him with a standing ovation.

"The fans were great," Gagne said. "They tried to help me a lot out there. It was positive for everybody, and the fans really got into it. ... It was really a lot of help."

It was not exactly a "game over" outing worthy of Gagne's Dodgers days, when he saved 152 games in 158 chances over a three-year span, including 84 in a row, and won a Cy Young Award.

Still, it was another step forward according to Yost. The manager was pleased with a mechanical fix that Gagne made Monday night, even though he needed 28 pitches to get through his second inning of work and surrendered a run.

What exactly that fix was, Yost will not reveal. It appears that Gagne had been tipping his pitches.

"If I tell you what it was, opposing teams could pick up on it," Yost said. "It was a simple adjustment, and he made it. It was really basic."

Gagne surrendered a leadoff single to Russell Martin but then induced what could have been a double-play grounder to second baseman Rickie Weeks, whose feed to shortstop J.J. Hardy nearly pulled Hardy off the bag.

Gagne retired pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney on a flyout and then locked into a 10-pitch battle with another pinch-hitter and another slumping former All-Star, Andruw Jones, who eventually drew a walk that brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate in speedy outfielder Juan Pierre.

This matchup did not last nearly as long. Pierre got a first-pitch fastball and hacked, sending a game-ending popout to Hardy.

"I didn't breathe for a while," Gagne said. "I was just waiting. The way it's been going, you never know. Maybe a bird was going to fly out there or something."

That didn't happen.

"It's not going to turn overnight," Gagne said. "It's a work in progress. ... You go out there one pitch at a time and focus on hitters, and if you do that, you're going to get out of innings. It's a pretty simple game, but we make it a lot more complicated. Sometimes our brains get in the way."