This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

TORONTO -- The Rays more or less broke even this weekend in the Bronx, splitting their four-game series with the Yankees, and they head to Toronto with a 5 1/2-game deficit in the American League Wild Card race.

That will set up a fascinating week ahead, as Tampa Bay may buy and sell with the future in mind ahead of the July 30 Trade Deadline. The Rays have some of the most intriguing players available, and arguably no front office does a better job of balancing the desire to win now with its long-term goal of remaining competitive.

The Deadline, and the urgency to win leading up to it, dominated a lot of the conversation during the wraparound series against the Yankees. But there were some nice fulfilling moments that may have been overlooked as a result. Here are three that stood out.

1. Intentional balk
Referencing the movie "Inside Out," closer Pete Fairbanks said he added a new core memory while recording the save in Sunday’s 6-4 win over the Yankees: “My first purposeful balk in the big leagues.”

With two outs and Austin Wells batting and Juan Soto on second base, Fairbanks did a little shimmy on the mound to advance Soto to third. Why?

“I don't like it when they tell them at the plate what’s coming,” the always-entertaining Fairbanks said, “so I'd prefer if they weren't on second base.”

You might think the time for such concerns ended with the introduction of PitchCom, as runners on second base can no longer look in for a catcher's signs. But that would be incorrect, as runners are savvy enough to pick up on things such as the pitcher’s hand position in the glove as he’s preparing to throw a pitch.

Thus, it made sense for Fairbanks to balk Soto over, even if it took a little longer than expected.

“I tried to make it as blatant as I could possibly do without dropping the ball and, like, kicking it off my foot or doing something weird,” he said. “It actually took everybody longer to catch on. … I'm not that rhythmic. I feel like it should have been something that they should have caught a little quicker, but it worked out well.”

Indeed, Fairbanks caught Wells looking at a slider for strike three as he picked up his 18th save of the season.

2. Hometown hero
Richie Palacios loves heading home to New York. The Brooklyn native is always greeted by a bunch of family and friends and, of course, a lot of pizza.

Palacios went home for the All-Star break, and he figured he had eaten 15 or 16 slices of pizza by Sunday -- "Two a day, at least,” he said. And it clearly powered something, based on his first career leadoff home run in Sunday's game.

“It's probably the pizza, honestly,” he said, smiling.

Palacios figured he was playing in front of 40 or 50 friends and family members when he hit his second Yankee Stadium home run of the season, a special moment he (and they) won’t soon forget, based on their response in the stands.

“They're pretty rowdy,” Palacios said. “They're New Yorkers, so what do you expect?”

3. A long-awaited return
There might not have been a happier person in the ballpark on Sunday than reliever Tyler Zuber. Considering the path he took to get there, why wouldn’t he feel that way?

The Rays called up Zuber from Triple-A Durham on Sunday after placing starter Ryan Pepiot on the 15-day injured list due to a right knee infection. It temporarily added a fresh arm to the bullpen before Tampa Bay promoted lefty Tyler Alexander to pitch Tuesday’s series opener in Toronto and optioned Zuber to Durham in a corresponding move.

• Injuries & Moves: Alexander expected to pitch opener in Toronto

It was a moment long in the making for Zuber, who made 54 appearances for the Royals across the 2020 and ’21 seasons.

He worked his way back from a right shoulder injury that cost him the entire 2022 season, got released by Cleveland on March 24 after struggling to find work last offseason and then pitched for the independent Atlantic League Long Island Ducks -- where he said he rediscovered his love of the game. He signed a Minor League deal with the Rays on May 14 and was added to their 40-man roster on Thursday. On Saturday, he got the surprising, emotional news of his promotion.

Zuber's flight was canceled on Saturday, but he had no worries about taking an early flight Sunday to get back to the big leagues.

“It's like the path, the road that I've been on, it's definitely just something that's surreal,” Zuber said Sunday morning. “I was trying not to cry last night whenever I was just like, ‘Is this really happening?’

“I was like, ‘You know what, it is definitely like a Tyler Zuber story for my flight to get canceled.’ … Just everything about it’s just, like, not how I wrote it up -- but it's just how I wrote it up.”