Mitchell Fills In as A’s Win, 10-5

Rickey Henderson needed a day to rest, and Kevin Mitchell was only too happy to give him one.

Mitchell, starting in left field for Henderson, went three for four with two RBIs as the Oakland Athletics defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 10-5, on Saturday.

“I didn’t think I was going to play at all,” said Mitchell, who made his first appearance since coming of the disabled list Wednesday. “But [Manager Art Howe] told me yesterday I was going to play and he was going to give [Henderson] the day off.”

Mitchell, who had been out because of a sprained right elbow, is now batting .262 for the season.

He hit an RBI single in the A’s five-run fifth inning and added an RBI double in the team’s four-run seventh.

Henderson, given a rest Saturday after an extra-inning game Friday night, is batting .263 in June, with three homers, including a grand slam, and eight RBIs.

It was Oakland’s third consecutive victory, and the first time this season the team has strung together three wins at home.

Mike Oquist (3-3) won his third start in a row, giving up three runs and six hits in seven innings. He struck out six.

Oquist, who started the season with a loss or no-decision in his first 10 starts, said he believed it was time for a turnaround.

“[The victories] will come in bunches,” he said. “Now you just get ready for the next start.”

Jason Giambi went two for four and drove in two runs, and rookie Ben Grieve was three for five with an RBI.

With the A’s trailing 1-0, Giambi opened the fifth with a double and Ryan Christenson drew a one-out walk.

Miguel Tejada’s RBI single of Andy Benes (4-6) tied it, 1-1.

Scott Spiezio followed with an RBI single, extending his hitting streak to 15 games, and Grieve, Mitchell and Matt Stairs added consecutive RBI hits to give the A’s a 5-1 lead.

“If we’d get some shut-down innings after that, we’d get a chance to get back in it,” Arizona Manager Buck Showalter said. “We scored five runs. If we had been able to shut it down . . . but we didn’t.”

In the seventh, Mitchell hit an RBI double, Giambi doubled in two runs and Christenson had a run-scoring sacrifice fly.

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the second on Brent Brede’s bloop RBI single.

The Diamondbacks closed to 5-3 in the seventh on Kelly Stinnett’s RBI double and Karim Garcia’s run-scoring single.

Stinnett added another RBI in the ninth inning, and Tony Batista’s run-scoring single rounded out scoring for Arizona.

Grieve’s two-out single in the fourth was Oakland’s first hit off Benes, who lasted just 4 1/3 innings. He gave up five runs and eight hits.

“I can’t remember the last time I gave up five hits in a row, but it happened today and I’m not too happy about it,” Benes said.

Howe said the A’s were prepared for Benes.

“I knew we were going to be in for a tussle because I knew he was their ace,” Howe said. “But that one inning we were able to put some hits together and that was the key.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NEXT SERIES FOR DODGERS

WHO: Oakland A’s

WHERE: Dodger Stadium

WHEN: Monday, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.

NEXT SERIES FOR ANGELS

WHO: Arizona Diamondbacks

WHERE: at Phoenix

WHEN: Tuesday, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.