Zack Wheeler Dominates Again, But Phillies Drop Critical Series to Astros

The Philadelphia Phillies dropped another tough game on Thursday to the Houston Astros by a score of 2-1.

After picking up a game on the Atlanta Braves in the National League East division on Wednesday, Philadelphia failed to stay the course. But this was no fault of starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, who put on another strong display on the mound.

Wheeler went seven innings against Houston, allowing just one run on five hits, while striking out nine. The go-ahead run was given up in the eighth inning by the bullpen once Wheeler was pulled from the game.

The right-hander was lights out against the Astros, but the bats went silent when the team needed them most. This game marked the second straight outing for Wheeler where he struck out at least nine batters. 

This was also his third straight strong start, allowing only one run in each outing. But the story of the game was the lack of offense from the Phillies.

The starting pitching for the Phillies has been great this year, but the offense has shown a strange inconsistency at times. This is one area that the Phillies will have to figure out as the regular season starts to come to a close.

Philadelphia will now head to Atlanta for the biggest series of the year against the Braves. If Atlanta were to lose again today against the Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia would remain just three games back in the division race.

But a win over Tampa Bay would see the Braves lead go back to four games entering the matchup. The Phillies had plenty of chances this week to dwindle the lead down, but they missed the opportunity;.

Now, there is real pressure on Philadelphia to win at least two of the three games against the Braves, giving themselves a realistic shot to overtake Atlanta. If they can't then the Phillies will likely be heading toward being a wild-card team in the NL.

Philadelphia has the pieces to do real damage in the playoffs this season, but going in as division winners would set them up stronger. At the very least, it would give the Phillies guaranteed home-field advantage for one round of the playoffs.

All the Phillies can do now is move forward with how this series against Houston played out. The attention and focus need to be on the Braves, with the team putting its best foot forward.

And if the Phillies can come away with a big weekend, the NL East could be well within reach over the last two weeks.