Dodgers batter Ben Sheets in seventh

MILWAUKEE – The Dodgers were expecting big things from Andruw Jones and Chad Billingsley this summer. Through the first quarter of the season, however, the results they got were mostly disappointing.

That all changed today, when Billingsley held Milwaukee to one run and three hits through seven-plus innings and Jones homered for the first time in nearly a month, guiding the Dodgers to a 7-2 win over the Brewers at Miller Park.

Billingsley, who struck out five and walked four – one intentionally – took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before pitcher Ben Sheets lined a soft single to center with two outs. And he allowed only two men into scoring position through six innings.

Sheets was almost as good though, limiting the Dodgers to a pair of singles by Juan Pierre and one by Russell Martin through six. But he fell apart in the seventh when the Dodgers batted around, scoring six times on home runs by Jones, Jeff Kent and Gary Bennett and an RBI single by Martin.

Jones got it started by driving a high 2-and-0 fastball over the wall in left-center, breaking the scoreless tie and giving him an RBI in consecutive games for the first time this season. One out later, Kent, mired in a one-for-28 slump, also homered, the first of five consecutive hits off Sheets (4-1).

The last was Bennett’s three-run blast that gave him his first RBIs as a Dodger. It was his first homer since he hit one last September at Miller Park. But then he has played only 10 games since then.

Bennett also had an RBI double in the ninth, marking his first four-RBI game since August 2006 and his first game with two extra-base hits in 11 months.

And he wasn’t even supposed to play today, joining the lineup just before game time when Martin, the regular catcher, moved to third base in place of rookie Blake DeWitt, who sat out because of a sore back.

DeWitt, whose .320 average is tops among players on the active roster, tweaked his back Wednesday. When he felt it tighten up on him again during pregame warm-ups today he was benched as a precaution. The Dodgers already have three infielders on the disabled list in Nomar Garciaparra, Rafael Furcal and Tony Abreu and could ill afford to lose DeWitt.

For one day, however, the Dodgers got by without him as every starter except Billingsley had a hit. Even shortstop Luis Maza got in on the fun.

Making his first big-league start after 10 seasons in the minors, Maza had a seventh-inning single, then scored his first run in the majors on Bennett’s home run. He also walked and scored on Bennett’s double in the ninth.

In addition to Bennett, Martin and Pierre also had two hits each, giving each seven hits in their last four games.

But Billingsley (3-5), who has had an up-and-down year, hardly needed all that support today. The right-hander turned in his best effort of the season, pitching past the seventh inning for the first time since last August.

He didn’t get an out in the eighth inning, though, giving a leadoff triple to Jason Kendall, then walking Rickie Weeks before Manager Joe Torre went to the bullpen.

The Dodgers lost the shutout when Kendall scored on a double-play grounder. The Brewers added a second run in the eighth when Ryan Braun, who signed a franchise-record eight-year, $45-million contract earlier in the day, celebrated with a homer to center off Jonathan Broxton.

 kevin.baxter@latimes.com