HOUSTON _ The A's opportunity to finish the first half with a flourish fizzled Sunday when the bullpen and the defense allowed the Houston Astros to rally for a 2-1 10-inning victory and a split of the four-game series.
Liam Hendriks, asked to pitch the 10th inning after Ryan Madson had blown a save in the ninth, had a chance to get out of the 10th with a man at third base and two out, but third baseman Danny Valencia's throw to first pulled Yonder Alonso off the bag, allowing Jake Marisnick to score the winning run.
Marisnick opened the inning with a single, stole second as George Springer struck out, then took third when Alonso robbed Marwin Gonzalez of a hit.
Valencia's error was his second of the game and the fourth of the day for the 37-51 A's, who came into the game with a club-record 15 consecutive games without an error.
It was a rough weekend in Houston for closer Madson, who let wins get away Friday and Sunday.
The Astros scored on a two-out double by Evan Gattis in the ninth to tie it at 1-all, forcing extra innings in the final game before the All-Star break. Madson was rocked by a three-run walk-off homer from Luis Valbuena on Friday.
The blown save did what the end of the club's errorless streak couldn't, denying rookie starter Sean Manaea a win in his best game yet in the big leagues.
The left-hander dazzled, allowing five hits and no walks over seven innings before handing a 1-0 lead to the bullpen. John Axford had a 1-2-3 eighth, but an infield single by Carlos Gomez and Gattis' two-out double into the left field corner brought the equalizing run home off Madson in the ninth.
Manaea had runners on base most of the day, but only twice did runners get as far as third base.
Manaea had thrown 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Giants on June 29 to give the A's reason to believe he was rounding into shape, but a July 5 game against the Twins in which he allowed six earned runs in five innings just underscored the up-and-down nature of the rookie left-hander's season.
The A's made three errors behind him Sunday, but the errors and the five hits the Astros added didn't result in any runs.
An error and a single in the first, both with two out, were no problem. Neither were leadoff hits in the second and third. A leadoff single in the fifth was wiped out when Marcus Semien started a double play.
Semien's error to open the sixth saw the runner get only as far as third base, and Coco Crisp's overrun of a single in the seventh wound up being similarly unproductive.
That changed in the sixth when rookie catcher Matt McBride, getting his first start of the series, snuck a grounder between third and short for a single. Crisp dropped a bunt to get McBride to second base and Semien broke his bat to deliver an RBI single to give Oakland the first run of the game.
Keuchel, who came in with a 6-9 record, left after the seventh inning having allowed just four hits and two walks on 99 pitches.
