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Most of the salient points (Sauron's forces did take massive losses but their driving will and sheer numbers made up for it; available materials might have been lacking in Minas Tirith to gear up any more; catapults might not have been available in large numbers or farther up the walls, etc) have already been covered, but two more clear factors in JRRT's favor should be noted:
1) He specifically stated in The Hobbit of orcs (here under the aegis of "goblins"):
"They make no beautiful things, but they make many clever ones. . . Hammers, axes, swords, daggers, pickaxes, tongs, and also instruments of torture, they make very well. . . It is not unlikely that they invented some of the machines that have since troubled the world, especially the ingenious devices for killing large numbers of people at once, for wheels and engines and explosives always delighted them"
Score one for JRRT giving the Mordor forces a very clear tech advantage in the war machine dep't, regardless of foreknowledge of MT's catapults. That foreknowledge, incidentally, might have been good intel, whether magically gained, or simply via spies; Gondor showed no lack of corruptable characters on the mundane side, and Denethor was using the Palantir, likely giving Sauron a glimpse in.
2) The fell beasts were not usable for overflies of the city, as they were not really armored. They would fall to archers easily. Given the importance of his wraiths, Sauron would not risk them to destroy a few paltry catapults.
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