A’s Get Fs in Basic Baserunning, but They Still Defeat Padres, 7-2

Miguel Tejada still needs to work on his home run trot and Kevin Mitchell needs some sliding practice. But the Oakland Athletics won’t complain about their offensive contributions Thursday night.

Tejada hit a three-run homer to break a sixth-inning tie and Kenny Rogers threw a six-hitter as Oakland scored all its runs with two out and defeated the San Diego Padres, 7-2.

Tejada, who was in a two-for-21 slump, hit a 396-foot shot to right-center for his second homer of the season and the fourth of his career. The rookie sped around the bases, nearly catching up with the two runners ahead of him.

“When I hit the ball, I knew I hit it hard. But it was no fly ball, it was a line drive,” Tejada said. “I didn’t stop running hard until I got past second base.”

Rogers (8-3), who pitched his second complete game of the season and the 19th of his career, retired 13 consecutive batters between the third and seventh innings. He struck out four and walked one.

“I had an idea how I wanted to go after each hitter and I got the double-play ball when I needed it,” Rogers said. “I just kept the ball down, that was the key.”

Rickey Henderson had a run-scoring single in the third for Oakland and Bip Roberts added a run-scoring double in the fifth. The A’s added two runs in the seventh on a run-scoring double by Mitchell and single by Matt Stairs that scored Mitchell.

On the play, Mitchell stood up as he crossed the plate and fooled Padre catcher Jim Leyritz, who expected Mitchell to slide and ended up clutching at air as Mitchell lumbered past.

“Nobody was there giving me the signal to slide and I didn’t know where the ball was,” said Mitchell, who tweaked his quadriceps while running the bases on the play. “He swiped at me with the glove and I just jumped away.”

San Diego starter Sterling Hitchcock (4-2) gave up seven runs on 10 hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out six, walked three and threw two wild pitches.

“The first two outs, I was fine,” Hitchcock said. “After that I just had a hard time getting that third out.”