OAKLAND — Mike Piazza moved down a spot to fifth in the order for the first time all season, and it worked out well for the Oakland Athletics.

Piazza broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the fourth inning and Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run homer, leading the A’s past the stumbling Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Joe Blanton won his second straight decision with just his second victory in his last eight starts for the defending AL West champion A’s, who have their first three-game winning streak since June 13-15 during interleague play.

Blanton (10-8) struck out five and didn’t walk a batter in seven scoreless innings. He allowed five hits.

Jack Hannahan doubled for his first major league hit leading off the bottom of the fifth for Oakland. Acquired in a minor league trade with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday, Hannahan had been 0-for-13 in his previous big league at-bats.

Mark Buehrle didn’t allow a hit until Nick Swisher’s one-out double down the left-field line in the fourth, but the Chicago offense couldn’t do much as the White Sox went on to their fourth straight defeat.

The struggling Piazza singled in Swisher two batters later, just the second hit in 20 at-bats for the designated hitter.

Piazza has 44 starts in the cleanup hole and two in the third spot this season, his first with Oakland.

Chicago’s four-game road winning streak ended with a 4-3 loss Tuesday night. The club is trying to win the season series against the A’s for the first time since going 6-3 in 2000, but will have to take the series finale Thursday to do so. The teams are even at 4-4 this year.

Buehrle (9-8) cruised until the fourth, then faced trouble in each inning the rest of the way. The left-hander gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings, struck out four and walked three.

Blanton had dropped four straight decisions before winning his last two. He won consecutive decisions for the first time since getting three straight from June 13 to July 3.

His bullpen nearly blew this opportunity. Alan Embree allowed a one-out triple to Jerry Owens and then Josh Fields’ sacrifice fly one batter later in the eighth. After Jermaine Dye’s single, Paul Konerko followed with an RBI double before Darin Erstad grounded out to end the inning.

Huston Street worked the ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances and first since May 6. He was on the disabled list from May 15 to July 23 with nerve irritation in his right elbow.

Chicago closer Bobby Jenks was available to pitch after being held out Tuesday night, a day after tweaking his right ankle while walking his dog at home during Monday’s off day.

On Sunday, Jenks broke David Wells’ AL record and tied the majors record of 41 straight batters retired, set by the Giants’ Jim Barr in 1972.