diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers/openai.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers/openai.ts
index 17cfa45e354..c96151b18b6 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers/openai.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-helpers/openai.ts
@@ -207,6 +207,7 @@ export function downgradeOpenAIFunctionCallReasoningPairs(
  * is incomplete, drop the block to keep history usable.
  */
 export function downgradeOpenAIReasoningBlocks(messages: AgentMessage[]): AgentMessage[] {
+  let anyChanged = false;
   const out: AgentMessage[] = [];
 
   for (const msg of messages) {
@@ -259,6 +260,7 @@ export function downgradeOpenAIReasoningBlocks(messages: AgentMessage[]): AgentM
       continue;
     }
 
+    anyChanged = true;
     if (nextContent.length === 0) {
       continue;
     }
@@ -266,5 +268,5 @@ export function downgradeOpenAIReasoningBlocks(messages: AgentMessage[]): AgentM
     out.push({ ...assistantMsg, content: nextContent } as AgentMessage);
   }
 
-  return out;
+  return anyChanged ? out : messages;
 }
diff --git a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.ts b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.ts
index 49938ba2d6e..ef5f969fa9a 100644
--- a/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.ts
+++ b/src/agents/pi-embedded-runner/run/attempt.ts
@@ -1368,12 +1368,10 @@ export async function runEmbeddedAttempt(
           if (!Array.isArray(messages)) {
             return inner(model, context, options);
           }
-          const pairSanitized = downgradeOpenAIFunctionCallReasoningPairs(
-            messages as AgentMessage[],
-          );
-          // Also strip orphaned reasoning blocks that lack a required following
-          // content item — OpenAI rejects these with a 400 error.
-          const sanitized = downgradeOpenAIReasoningBlocks(pairSanitized);
+          // Strip orphaned reasoning blocks first, then fix function-call
+          // pairing — matches the call order in google.ts.
+          const reasoningSanitized = downgradeOpenAIReasoningBlocks(messages as AgentMessage[]);
+          const sanitized = downgradeOpenAIFunctionCallReasoningPairs(reasoningSanitized);
           if (sanitized === messages) {
             return inner(model, context, options);
           }