Astros keep rocking Oakland’s bullpen

HOUSTON — The A’s bullpen issues always seem to strike hardest against the Astros, and so it is again this week.

Tuesday night, it was Liam Hendriks, who allowed three runs in the ninth, forcing manager Bob Melvin to go to closer Santiago Casilla to preserve the A’s win in the opener. Wednesday, it was long reliever Josh Smith, who came in with two on and no outs in the third and gave up four hits, a walk and three runs.

“That inning got away from him, too,” Melvin said. “Granted, we came back after that, it would have been nice to hold them down a little bit more, but didn’t happen.”

Smith pitched just one inning, so the A’s don’t need to add another reliever before Thursday’s game. He has allowed nine runs over his past seven outings and 92⁄3 innings, giving up 13 hits and five walks.

Hendriks is in a real funk, giving up 15 hits, including three homers, four walks and 10 runs in nine innings over his past 11 appearances.

“He went through a stretch where he was better than anyone in our bullpen,” Melvin said. “Recently he’s gone through a tougher stretch again . ... Everyone’s going to go through some rough patches, but it’s not like his velocity is down or his breaking ball isn’t breaking, it’s just a tough stretch.”

Briefly: Jharel Cotton, scheduled to start Thursday, has been pushed back to Saturday. Cotton left his last start after five-plus innings because of a blister . ... Kendall Graveman (shoulder) and Ryan Dull (knee) will throw bullpen sessions this weekend, their first since going on the DL in May . ...

Chris Bassitt, in his first outing since being shut down during his rehab from Tommy John surgery, struck out two batters in a scoreless inning with Class A Stockton.