ST. PETERSBURG -- This was an eventful homestand for the Rays, to say the least.

Their flight from Toronto landed early Friday morning to the news that Randy Arozarena was being traded to the Mariners. It was the first of four massive trades, and six overall, that Tampa Bay pulled off prior to Tuesday’s Trade Deadline -- but a handful of Rays whose names kept the rumor mill churning all weekend survived the stress of the Deadline and stayed put.

• Rays acquire Carlson to cap busy Deadline, build toward future

Oh, and a few hours before the Rays’ 6-2 loss to the Marlins on Wednesday afternoon capped a 3-2 homestand for Tampa Bay, club executives and local officials celebrated the news that their new ballpark was a done deal.

The defeat dropped the Rays to 55-53, back to two games above .500. The series split left them 10-1-2 in their last 13 series and ended a dizzying week that manager Kevin Cash said his club handled as well as could be expected.

“It's been a tense clubhouse. It's probably been a tense clubhouse throughout most of baseball,” Cash said. “I think that our guys that are here have done a tremendous job of focusing on what they can control. And then when the Deadline was over, or the day was over, they went out and competed and we won some games.”

Here are three more takeaways from the series finale.

Taj Bradley (finally) gave up a run

Bradley entered the game as the hottest pitcher in baseball, having surrendered only five earned runs over his previous nine outings. He hadn’t given up a run since July 6, as he carried a 23-inning scoreless streak into Wednesday’s start.

“In a few days, I’ll probably realize how good of a run it really was,” Bradley said. “For now, I’m just happy with how I can capitalize off of it, how my pitches looked and stuff like that.”

He set down the side in order in the first inning but finally found trouble after that. Jonah Bride hit a high fastball into the first row of the left-field seats in the second inning, snapping Bradley’s scoreless streak. Then he gave up a double, a walk, a sacrifice fly and a two-run homer to Jake Burger during a four-batter span in the third.

Bradley recovered to retire eight of the last nine batters he faced, but it took him 94 pitches to battle through five innings. The end result was a merely average performance for a pitcher who had been anything but average for nearly two months.

“I thought he competed well. He set the bar so high here over the last two months,” Cash said. “I thought he kept us in the ballgame when it wasn't coming easy for him today.”

Carlson’s crazy journey

Traded from the Cardinals to the Rays about 18 hours before Wednesday’s 12:10 p.m. ET first pitch, outfielder Dylan Carlson hopped on an 8 a.m. flight from St. Louis that landed around 11:30 a.m. He hopped in a car and arrived at The Trop about five minutes after first pitch.

“I’m really excited. So far, it seems like a great bunch of guys and obviously a group that’s competing and very much playing meaningful games,” he said. “It’s exciting, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

He rushed into the ballpark, unpacked his bag, changed into his uniform and made it to the dugout around the second inning. He barely had time to shake his new coaches’ and teammates’ hands before he was called into action.

“I don't know if that's happened before,” Cash said, smiling.

Left fielder Richie Palacios sustained a hyperextended right knee while sliding into second base in the second inning, a day-to-day injury that he doesn’t expect will send him to the injured list. Carlson took his place in left to begin the third inning and finished 0-for-3 with a strikeout.

Offensive ups and downs

The good: Trade acquisition Christopher Morel continued to impress, ripping a 107.3 mph homer down the left-field line in the first inning. He became the third player in franchise history to homer in each of his first two games with Tampa Bay, joining Lucas Duda (2017) and Elijah Dukes (2007).

Also good: Jonny DeLuca tripled twice, making him the first Ray with multiple triples in a game since Brandon Lowe on May 13, 2022.

The bad? The Rays struck out 14 times, their most since June 8. And they went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, bringing them to 7-for-49 on the homestand. Their issues were perfectly exemplified by the fact that DeLuca tripled twice with one out … and didn’t score either time.

“We've got to find a way to move the baseball when we get in those situations, man on third and less than two outs,” Cash said. “We did not do that today.”