TAMPA — Alex Rodriguez admitted the obvious after homering for the first time this spring on Wednesday against the Red Sox.

“I’m very happy,” said Rodriguez, who hit a 3-1 pitch from Brandon Workman over the left-center field fence in the fourth inning of a 10-6 loss to the Red Sox. “I haven’t hit a ball like that in a long time. Almost two years.”

Actually, it was Sept. 20, 2013, when he hit a grand slam off the Giants’ George Kontos.

That remains his most recent major league homer and Rodriguez still has to show he’s able to hit them when it counts after returning from his year-long suspension.

“It’s early March,” Rodriguez said. “Let’s see what happens. I’ve got to do that in New York, where it counts. It’s certainly a good start.”

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In five games this spring, Rodriguez is 5-for-11 with two walks and as many have shown before him, success this time of year can be deceiving.

And as he heads toward 40, Rodriguez understands he faces considerable challenges and said even he wasn’t convinced he would ever hit another homer.

“You always have doubt,” Rodriguez said. “I haven’t played in a long time. Look, you guys have been writing it. It’s a tough game and what I’m trying to do … not a lot of people have been able to have this comeback.”

For now, at least, he has delayed the constant questions about whether he can produce, something manager Joe Girardi said could have affected Rodriguez if he flailed at the plate in the early going.

“It’s hard to say,” Girardi said. “If he had played last year and the year before the whole year and got off to a slow spring, I would say no. But the fact he hasn’t played a lot, it’s definitely possible.”

So on Wednesday, he merely had to answer questions about the homer.

“I think he knows if he puts a good swing on the ball and centers it, he’s going to hit some home runs,” Girardi said. “Maybe there’s some significance to it, but I think when you want to see guys swing the bat well is April 6.”

A lot can happen before the Yankees open the season in The Bronx that day against Toronto, but those who refuse to write him off insist they weren’t shocked to see him go deep one more time.

“He has 600-something [home runs], so it doesn’t surprise me,” Carlos Beltran said. “That’s not new.”

It’s why special advisor Gene Michael told him he still believed in him when Rodriguez approached him prior to the game.

“He asked me if I saw anything,” Michael said. “I said, ‘No, I believe in you as a hitter. I think you can hit.’ ”

So does his new hitting coach, Jeff Pentland.

“Alex is Alex,” Pentland said. “He has a presence, that aura that great ones do. Even though he’s getting up there in age, there have been a few players who’ve turned it on at a late age.”

Pentland also said he was convinced Rodriguez felt the same.

“His confidence level is high,” said Pentland, who took over for Kevin Long. “I don’t think he’s looking at this as anything but another year. Nobody beats Father Time, but it doesn’t mean he can’t do it again.”

For one day in March, Rodriguez showed that was true.