Lack of clutch hitting has plagued the Astros way too often this year, and it cost them dearly once again tonight. Eight hits in a game started by Zack Wheeler isn’t bad, but only one of them with runners in scoring position out of ten chances won’t win many games. Especially when three of those missed opportunities came in the tenth inning stranding a ghost runner.
Not surprisingly, Bryce Harper and the Phillies made the Astros pay for this extra-inning ineptitude.
The Astros scored first thanks to a two-out, two-run double by rookie Shay Whitcomb in the fourth off Wheeler, his second RBI double in his short MLB career.