On a day that Aaron Boone described as exciting for some players and anxious for others, the Yankees took care of business on the field with the trade deadline looming over them.

And now they go.

Ahead of the 6 p.m. trade deadline, the Yankees picked up an important series victory, getting big home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice to beat the Rays 7-4 on Thursday afternoon in The Bronx.

The game included a 2-hour, 45-minute rain delay during the bottom of the fifth, during which the Yankees (60-49) acquired relievers David Bednar from the Pirates and Jake Bird from the Rockies — with Giants closer Camilo Doval later joining the fold.

By the time play resumed, the Yankees were playing with a short bench as they sent infielder Oswald Peraza to the Angels. After the game restarted, the Rays (54-56) were pulling José Caballero from the game so they could trade the speedy utilityman across the field to the Yankees.

“A lot going on today,” Stanton said. “For having that long rain delay, at least it was entertaining, seeing what was going on all throughout baseball. To get the win as well makes the long day worth it — long two days, really.”

By the end of the day, in addition to three relievers and a utilityman, the Yankees had also picked up a half-game on the Blue Jays in the standings, entering the final two-month sprint 3 ¹/₂ games out of first place in the AL East.

The Yankees raced out to an early 7-0 lead off Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot. In the bottom of the first, Cody Bellinger hit an RBI single before Stanton’s two-run shot — his eighth home run in his past 20 games. In the second, Rice added a three-run blast.

After cruising through three scoreless innings, Marcus Stroman ran into trouble in the fourth as he gave up four runs. But he got through the fifth before the game entered the delay, at which point the Yankees retreated to the clubhouse and their phones to get up to date on the flurry of trades going down.

“Seeing who had the best internet connection, really,” Stanton said. “Just refresh, refresh, checking the ticker. It was pretty entertaining.”

After play resumed, on a day when the Yankees were short in the bullpen, Yerry De Los Santos provided three big scoreless innings while striking out five before Jonathan Loáisiga nailed down his first save of the season.

“Today’s a weird day,” manager Aaron Boone said. “With a rain delay, the trade deadline, going back out there after three hours or whatever it was, so there’s some anxiety in that game right there where you have the lead, you’ve been off the field for a few hours and you’re really short in the pen. De Los Santos goes out there and does what he does — massive outing by him.”