MILWAUKEE — Reputations are difficult to change in the major leagues, but there’s no better correction fluid than a good deed in a pennant race.

Matt Cain doesn’t know how to win the close ones? Eugenio Velez fields with a skillet at second base? Brian Wilson pulls the fire alarm every time he pitches?
Oh, really?
The Giants watched three maturing players make key contributions as they eked out a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday night. Cain pitched into the eighth inning and won for the first time since July 24, Wilson hit 102 mph on the scoreboard while converting a five-out save, and Velez ranged for a series of impressive stops — including a run-saver in the eighth — as the Giants assured themselves no worse than a split on this six-game trip.
The Giants entered with a 4-14 record at Miller Park over a four-year span, but now they’re poised to sweep the series with a victory today. (And they remained a game behind the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card standings.)
“We’ve got a month left, and you know, you can see the end of the regular season,” said Cain (13-4), who finally tied his career high for victories after seven winless starts. “But we’re shooting for the playoffs. Every start, you know what’s on the line. You focus and bear down.”
Cain struck out five, held the Brewers to three hits over the first seven innings and was pulled after allowing Jason Kendall’s leadoff double in the eighth. He had been 0-2 in his previous seven starts despite posting a 3.10 ERA over that span.
With afternoon light streaming through the glass panels, hitters on both sides had trouble seeing the ball. But Juan Uribe hit a home run for the second consecutive day, barreling up a 3-2 pitch off Yovani Gallardo in the fourth inning. Nate Schierholtz followed with a single off the glove of first baseman Prince Fielder and scored when Aaron Rowand yanked a double down the third-base line.
The Brewers shaved the lead in the bottom of the inning on Fielder’s double. But with the tying run at third base, Cain battled Jody Gerut for a 10-pitch at-bat before striking him out on an off-speed pitch. The first nine pitches were all fastballs; Gerut fouled off six consecutive.
“He’s bull strong,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Cain. “This kid can log pitches and innings. That’s the difference between Matt this year and the past. Sometimes an inning would get away from him.”
Velez’s maturity has been the most sudden of all. He didn’t resemble the skittish and error-prone fielder who got banished to Triple-A Fresno earlier this season, ranging all over the right side of the infield to make plays.
He also reached base in three of his four plate appearances, scoring after a leadoff triple in the fifth.
Velez’s biggest contribution came after Kendall scored to make it a one-run game and Jeremy Affeldt’s throwing error put runners at first and second.
Wilson entered and induced a pair of force-outs on balls hit by Ryan Braun and Fielder. Velez went deep up the middle to glove Fielder’s grounder and flipped to Uribe, the shortstop, to prevent the tying run from scoring.
“I never thought I’d get that ball,” said Velez, who was playing Fielder, a left-handed hitter, to pull. “As soon as he hit it, I just thought, go get it.
“The thing is, you never give up.”
With 26 games to go, perhaps there’s no better motto for the Giants to adopt.