Trevor Story and Ceddanne Rafaela had consecutive RBI singles in a six-run fourth inning filled with five Houston mistakes, Lucas Giolito pitched a season-high eight stellar innings, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Astros 6-1 to complete a series sweep.

SportsLine's model simulated Houston vs. Boston 10,000 times and revealed its MLB picks for the matchup at Fenway Park

Regardless of the Red Sox' activity (or lack thereof) at the trade deadline, they are still riding a lot of momentum. They are winners of five of their last seven games and were 17-7 in July. With a 59-51 record, they are one game ahead of the Seattle Mariners for the second AL Wild Card spot.

In the immediate aftermath of the deadline, it doesn't feel like the Red Sox did much of anything, let alone enough to solidify them as a serious playoff team.

Breslow, for his part, faced the press less than 90 minutes after the deadline passed, explaining that he felt the Red Sox had acted aggressively -- to the point of being "uncomfortable." In the end, though, they just weren't able to pull off any additional or greater transactions.