ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the majority of Friday’s game, the Yankees could not hit Rays pitching. They had better luck hitting Rays batting.

First Jhony Brito and then Albert Abreu plunked Randy Arozarena after the Tampa Bay star homered in the first inning of an eventual 5-4 Yankees loss at Tropicana Field, where there nearly were fireworks inside the dome.

Arozarena crushed a Brito changeup to center for the Rays’ first run of the game and celebrated during his jog. Coming around second base, he pointed at “Randy Land” — a just-unveiled cheering section in the left-field seats that included a few fathead-like cutouts of his face and fans holding R-A-N-D-Y letters — and then stopped on third base, where he crossed his arms and posed in a look he has become known for, before continuing home.

Arozarena saw three pitches in his next two at-bats, and two hit him.

Both teams’ managers agreed they did not believe there was intent on either plunking, and Aaron Boone said his club “didn’t take any exception” to Arozarena’s celebration.

Still, that did not make Arozarena’s body feel better.

In the third inning, Brito drilled Arozarena with an inside sinker on the first pitch of the at-bat. Arozarena took a long look at Brito, and home-plate umpire Dan Merzel stepped in front of Arozarena but did not issue a warning.

That changed two innings later. In the fifth, Abreu entered and threw a 97-mph fastball at Arozarena’s ribs. The 28-year-old from Cuba absorbed the blow, took a moment and started to swing his bat as if he would spike it on the dirt. He glared at Brito as he slowly walked to first base and had some words — Arozarena “said a couple of things that were kind of personal,” Abreu said — and did not drop his bat until he was two-thirds the way down the line, when he flung it.

“Of course you’re going to get a little upset,” said Arozarena, who added he did not think either was on purpose, particularly because he said Abreu later apologized. “Ninety-eight [mph], you get hit by a ball, it’s never going to feel good.”

The dugouts began yelling at each other — catching coach Tanner Swanson was animated in the Yankees’ bench — and warnings were issued, which angered Rays manager Kevin Cash.

Cash, who had watched perhaps his best player get hit twice without any hint of retribution, argued with crew chief Lance Barksdale before getting tossed.

“Warn the first time, and if it happens again,” said Cash, trailing off. The Rays manager said Barksdale told him half the crew did not feel the first hit-by-pitch was intentional and, “I said, ‘I didn’t give a s–t what half the crew said.’ ”

Rays pitchers did not respond, with the ironic exception of Garrett Cleavinger’s slider hitting Harrison Bader in the back foot — a pitch Bader swung at. Two pitches later, Bader drilled a three-run home run.

The Yankees and Rays play two more games this weekend before facing off for four next weekend, with plenty of time for carryover. Both teams likely will be on alert.

Asked if he thought the drama would spill over to Saturday, Arozarena, a star on a 27-6 club, responded: “No. I think we’re just going to come out there and win, and it’s just going to be another victory.”