Oakland, Calif. ? Led by two struggling stars, the New York Mets broke out of their offensive funk.

Mike Piazza ended the longest home run drought of his career, Carlos Beltran hit a three-run shot, and New York avoided a three-game sweep with a 9-6 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Thursday.

Beltran’s eighth homer, a long drive to right in the fifth that put the Mets ahead, was his first for New York in a game not started by Pedro Martinez.

Piazza hadn’t homered since May 9 at Wrigley Field, a stretch of 98 at-bats without going deep, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

“It’s been a while. I felt like I’ve been swinging the bat better the last 30 or 40 at-bats or so, but I’m still not driving the ball as well as I can,” Piazza said. “Carlos came up with a big home run. That kind of got us going.”

Willie Randolph is a man of intuition, and everything told the Mets’ manager that a couple tweaks to the lineup might be all it would take to get his team’s offense back on track. He moved David Wright to the second spot for the first time this season, and Wright delivered an RBI single before Beltran’s homer.

“I’m a vibe person,” Randolph said. “You might think I’m crazy, but when I get a feeling about something it usually works.”

Ramon Castro had a two-run double and matched his career high with three RBIs, and Kris Benson (5-2) pitched six solid innings to win his second straight decision despite giving up two home runs in a game played in a steady drizzle.

New York's Carlos Beltran, rear, rounds the bases after hitting a three-run home run off Oakland's Ryan Glynn, foreground, in the fifth inning. The Mets won, 9-6, on Thursday in Oakland, Calif.

This was a key victory for the Mets, who have been struggling to score and were in need of a lift as they concluded the first series of their season-long 12-game road trip. They had one hit through the first four innings, then the first six batters got hits in the fifth.

New York had lost three in a row and six of seven and hadn’t scored more than three runs in any of the defeats. The Mets scored more runs in their seven-run fifth than they had in their previous three games.

Braden Looper pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 15 chances, getting Bobby Crosby to ground into a game-ending double play. Jason Kendall slid hard into second baseman Kaz Matsui, who stayed down briefly before limping off the field.

Matsui had ice on his left knee afterward, but said he would try to play Friday. Neither he nor Randolph accused Kendall of a dirty slide.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Kendall said. “He didn’t get out of the way.”

Nick Swisher hit a two-run homer and Mark Kotsay also connected for the A’s, who had won three straight and nine of 10 at home. Every A’s starter had a hit.

Oakland made it interesting with three runs in the eighth off Danny Graves. Bobby Kielty and Swisher each had an RBI single, and Keith Ginter doubled in a run.

After Swisher’s second-inning homer, Benson allowed back-to-back singles before retiring 13 of his final 16 batters.

Beltran’s homer chased A’s starter Ryan Glynn (0-3), and reliever Juan Cruz gave up consecutive singles to Cliff Floyd and Piazza. Castro hit his two-run double three batters later.

Piazza led off the seventh with a shot to left-center, giving him 385 homers to tie Dwight Evans for 47th place on the career list.

Glynn made his third start of the season after being called up June 3. He might be the odd man out upon the return of Rich Harden, who will make a rehab start at Triple-A Sacramento on Friday as the final step in his recovery from a strained stomach muscle.

Brian Daubach started at first base for New York, drew three walks and scored twice, one day after being called up from Triple-A Norfolk when Miguel Cairo went on the disabled list because of a hamstring injury.

Daubach was drafted by the Mets in the 17th round in 1990, but this was his first big-league game for the club.

“It’s about time,” he said, still carrying a Norfolk duffel bag.

Yankees 6, Pirates 1

New York – Randy Johnson reached double digits in strikeouts for the first time this season and pitched a five-hitter, leading New York to a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh.

With perhaps his sharpest slider of the season, Johnson dominated from the start, throwing his first 13 pitches for strikes and 20 of his opening 21. He finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

It was the 205th double-digit strikeout game of his career, 10 shy of Nolan Ryan’s record.

Hideki Matsui hit a two-run homer off Oliver Perez (5-5), Jason Giambi had a long RBI double and Gary Sheffield added a two-run double.

Indians 2, Rockies 1

Cleveland – Kevin Millwood got his 100th victory and Cleveland pushed its winning streak to a season-high six games with a sweep of homesick Colorado.

Millwood (2-4) pitched five shutout innings in his first start since May 25, when he pulled a groin muscle. He got his first win at Jacobs Field in seven tries.

Colorado dropped to 4-26 away from Coors Field. Since 1900, only six teams, including Tampa Bay earlier this season, have gone 4-26 in their first 30 road games.

Tigers 3, Padres 1

Detroit – Jeremy Bonderman gave up a leadoff home run but little else, pitching seven strong innings and leading the Detroit Tigers over the San Diego Padres for a three-game sweep.

Chris Shelton hit his first homer of the season and added an RBI single for the Detroit Tigers.

The Padres fell to 0-6 in Detroit. In the 1984 World Series, they lost all three games at Tiger Stadium.

Bonderman (8-4) allowed Dave Roberts’ homer but was in control the rest of the way. He gave up only four hits overall, striking out four and walking three.

Jamie Walker worked a hitless eighth, and Troy Percival earned his fifth save.

Woody Williams (2-5) gave up three runs in seven innings for the Padres.

Giants 14, Twins 7

Minneapolis – Nearing the middle of an unusually unsuccessful season and missing Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants have been searching for a spark.

They might have found it this week at the Metrodome.

Omar Vizquel had five hits and drove in the tying run in the eighth inning, and Pedro Feliz’s two-run single against former teammate Joe Nathan keyed a seven-run ninth to lift the struggling Giants past the Minnesota Twins.

“They were like bees,” manager Felipe Alou said.

“Our intensity was bigger than anything. They wanted to win a series. We should have won all three games.”

Taking two of three, San Francisco ended a five-series losing streak while collecting a season-high 18 hits. They scored seven of their season-best 14 runs in the ninth.

The Giants, who have won just four of their last 19 games, notched consecutive victories for the first time since May 24-25.

“We’re only eight games out, and it’s still early,” said Moises Alou, who went 3-for-4 and noticed his teammates’ spirits pick up after an 8-4 victory on Wednesday.

“I see a lot of happiness and a lot of trust and a lot of people feeling confident about our team.”

Jason Christiansen (3-1) pitched the eighth to earn the victory, and the bullpen threw 4 1â3 scoreless innings. San Francisco relievers have given up two earned runs in 192â3 innings, spanning five games.

After Lew Ford’s three-run home run in the fifth gave them a 7-6 lead, the Twins’ normally sturdy bullpen blew it. With an earned-run average of 2.54 entering the game, Minnesota’s relievers rank second in the majors.