Robbie busts out with 2 home runs

FROM THE smoothness of the swing to the sound off the bat to the way the baseball flew out of the park, all this seemed very familiar. Robinson Cano was back at the Stadium and it was just like old times — with one exception. The one-time Yankees second baseman was doing damage for the Mariners.

Cano put what’s been his very disappointing second season for the M’s on hold by hitting a pair of two-run homers to power Seattle to a 4-3 victory over the Yankees Saturday afternoon before an announced sellout crowd of 46,119.

Cano came in with a meager .249 average and a mere six home runs, but he absolutely hammered Yanks starter Michael Pineda. He hit a two-run shot to the left-field side of Monument Park in the first inning and another two-run bomb into the second deck in right field in the sixth. His second homer snapped the 2-2 tie created by Brian McCann’s tworun blast in the fourth and proved the difference in the game.

“He crushed two balls and basically beat us by himself,” Brett Gardner said. “He looks exactly like we remember: driving the ball all over the place, taking good swings and being a very dangerous hitter. (He’s) if not the best, one of the very best hitters I’ve played with. I love to watch him hit, just not against us.”

The Yankees relief corps kept the margin at two runs to give the offense a chance. But the Mariners’ hot mess of a bullpen — it has converted just 69% of its save opportunities — managed to get through the final three innings holding the lead.

Carson Smith, who recently replaced erratic Fernando Rodney as M’s closer, needed 30 pitches in the ninth, gave up a run and allowed the tying run to reach scoring position before notching the save.

“I really felt this was probably the biggest game of the year for us to date,” said Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon, whose 42-49 club hasn’t played up to the preseason hype. “Coming out of the break, we didn’t want to go 0-2. We hadn’t beaten this team all year. This was important. ... In my mind it was a must-victory for us. We did everything we possibly could to get it.”

Pineda (9-6) didn’t fare well against his former team, which dealt him to the Yankees before the 2012 season for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi. He allowed four runs on six hits and two walks over six innings. He struck out two. In his three previous starts, the righthander had walked one and struck out 24. He discounted a suggestion that seven days off because of the All-Star break affected him.

Pineda said his slider wasn’t sharp, but it was his fastball that Cano twice hit for the home runs.

“I have a really good fastball. I always try to attack the hitter with my fastball,” Pineda said. “The first homer he jumped on the first pitch. On the second I tried to throw my fastball inside and he got it. He’s a good hitter.”

Cano finished fifth in the 2014 AL MVP balloting in his first season with the Mariners after rejecting a reported $175 million offer from the Yankees for Seattle’s $240 million, 10-year bid. His slash line for the season was .314/.382/.454, but this season it is .254/.292/.387. He reportedly is being treated for a parasite.

Even with Cano’s bad numbers, Joe Girardi said “when we talk about him in meetings, we consider him dangerous and that’s the way we treat him. Today we made some mistakes.”

Gardner said he doesn’t expect Cano’s disappointing numbers to stay that way.

“It would be foolish to think that. He’s too good of a hitter,” he said. “If I could teach my kids how to hit like somebody it would be like Robbie Cano.”

Vidal Nuno and Rodney combined to get the M’s through the eighth with Rodney getting Alex Rodriguez on an inning-ending groundout to cap A-Rod’s 0-for-4 day. Smith gave up a leadoff double to Mark Teixeira and the adventure was on.

Smith fanned Chase Headley for what should have been the second out, but the breaking pitch got by catcher Mike Zunino and it put runners on the corners. Garrett Jones’ soft grounder to shortstop got a run in and moved pinch-runner Chris Young to second.

Finally, with his 30th pitch, Smith got Didi Gregorius on a grounder to second to end it, dropping the Yankees to 49-41.

“It’s one of those days,” Girardi said.