MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Just about everyone in the Milwaukee lineup was relieved by what happened Sunday.

Jose Hernandez hit a home run and a two-run single as the Brewers broke out of their offensive slump in a 9-4 victory over the Montreal Expos.

The Brewers, who entered the game with a majors-worst .227 team batting average, snapped a three-game losing streak and ripped Dustin Hermanson (3-3) for the biggest offensive outburst of their 10-game homestand, which they finished 3-7.

Milwaukee got two-run hits from Ron Belliard, Hernandez and Kevin Barker while jumping to a 7-2 lead after the fourth inning. Belliard finished with three RBI.

"That's the kind of hitting I believe this team is capable of doing," Milwaukee manager Davey Lopes said. "I'm sure these guys really felt that they had to do something positive on the last day, and it showed."

As the Brewers packed for a seven-game road trip, their clubhouse had none of the funereal pall that hung over it Saturday, when the team blew a one-run lead in the eighth and dropped to the NL's worst record.

At 11-20, the Brewers are still off to their worst start since 1970, their first year in Milwaukee.

Hernandez went 3-for-4 in his first multi-hit game since April 12. He signed a three-year, $10 million free-agent contract in the offseason but had a horrible April as the Brewers' everyday third baseman.

He had one extra-base hit -- a homer -- and a .170 average entering the game. His 405-foot blast to left in the fifth was one of the longer homers at County Stadium this year, and Hernandez even added a Sammy Sosa-esque hop step as he headed to first base.

"You get mad because you want to do good when you're in the lineup every day," said Hernandez, who has been a utility player throughout his career. "You just go home, play with your kids, and then come back the next day."

The Brewers scored in each of the first five innings, an unlikely occurrence for a team that was struggling mightily even before Geoff Jenkins, the team's leader in nearly every hitting category, was lost for a month Saturday with a broken finger.

Jose Vidro had a homer and a run-scoring single for Montreal, which finished a nine-game road trip. Lee Stevens also homered.

"(A record of) 4-5 isn't great, but I'll take it," said Expos manager Felipe Alou of Montreal's three-city road swing. "They took advantage of their opportunities and hit a lot of high pitches (from Hermanson)."

Jimmy Haynes (4-2) wasn't sharp and allowed seven hits and two walks over six innings, but he was helped by some rare run support and two inning-ending double plays which started on nifty ground-ball pickups by Hernandez at third.

Jeromy Burnitz started things off with a first-inning homer, his first since April 8. Burnitz, mired in a 3-for-34 slump entering the game, hit five homers in the season's first six games but hadn't gone deep since.

Belliard had a bases-loaded double in the second inning that scored two runs and required an exceptional relay throw from shortstop Orlando Cabrera to get Henry Blanco at the plate.

Milwaukee added two more runs in the third on Hernandez's bases-loaded single. Barker's two-run double in the fourth finally chased Hermanson.

"I felt great in the bullpen, but I felt flat on the mound," Hermanson said. "They could lay off the sliders and sit on the fastballs."

Game notes
Vladimir Guerrero, who went 6-for-9 in the first two games of the series, went 0-for-4 and grounded into a double play. ... Milwaukee catcher Blanco, who has thrown out 6-of-13 potential base-stealers this season, nearly picked off Vidro in the third inning -- while Vidro was on second base. ... Burnitz broke the second-longest homerless streak of his Milwaukee career. ... Brewers pitchers John Snyder and Jamey Wright had successful weekends in the first starts of their rehab assignments. Snyder got a win for Double-A Huntsville on Friday, and Wright did the same in 6 1/3 scoreless innings of work on Saturday. If all goes well, Snyder and Wright will be in the Brewers' rotation in 3-4 weeks.