Alex Rodriguez hits first home run since Sept. 20, 2013 (video)

It’s been a long time coming, and on Wednesday, it finally arrived. New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run since returning from his one-season suspension, smacking a round-tripper of Boston Red Sox pitcher Brandon Workman.

It came during the fourth inning of a spring training showdown between AL East rivals as A-Rod turned on a 3-1 offering from Workman and depositing it over the left-center field fence.

A-Rod had four hits in 10 at-bats so far in spring training coming into Wednesday’s game, a far cry from when he went 0-for-2 against a Yankees pitching machine dubbed “Iron Mike” early on in spring training.

Rodriguez knocked in his first RBI on Monday while serving as New York’s designated hitter, a position he should become familiar with if he is to enjoy this season — despite his protestations — unless something dramatically changes before the Yankees break camp and head north.

Rodriguez’s last homer came on Sept. 20, 2013 in a game against the San Francisco Giants. That’s a whopping 537 days.

How much has A-Rod changed since then, right? Well, probably not much — he presumably remains the same as he always has been — but a lot sure has transpired (some good but mostly bad … okay, pretty much all bad) — in between home runs, that’s for certain.

(photo credit: Kathy Willens/AP Photo)