Raul Ibanez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off former Seattle teammate Felix Hernandez with two outs in the sixth inning, Robinson Cano had four hits and the Yankees overcame a home run by Jesus Montero to beat the Mariners 6-2 Friday night.
Hernandez (3-2) lost for the first time at new Yankee Stadium, where the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner had allowed just one earned run in 24 innings coming in.
Hiroki Kuroda (3-4) improved to 3-1 at home, allowing a solo homer to Dustin Ackley leading off the game and another in the sixth to Montero, acquired by the Mariners in the January trade that sent Michael Pineda to New York.
Cano had three singles and double. He is 12 for 20 in his last five games, raising his average from .255 to .308. He is 14 for 34 (.412) against Hernandez in his career.
Andruw Jones added the first home run by a Yankees pinch-hitter since September 2010, a two-run drive in the eighth off Steve Delabar.
With the Yankees trailing 2-1, Alex Rodriguez walked leading off the bottom of the sixth, Cano singled and Mark Teixeira hit into a forceout at second. Nick Swisher took a called third strike, and Ibanez lined the next pitch over the auxiliary scoreboard in right-center for his sixth home run of the season.
Hernandez allowed 11 hits — two short of his career high — and four runs in 6 2-3 innings, his second-shortest outing this season. He struck out seven and walked two, and his ERA rose from 1.89 to 2.29.
King Felix had been 3-0 at new Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009. He weakened after Derek Jeter fouled off five pitches during a 10-pitch walk in the fifth, which started a stretch in which seven of Hernandez’s last 12 batters reached.
Kuroda gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings. David Robertson got two outs in a non-save situation, his first appearance since wasting a one-run, ninth-inning lead in a 4-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Wednesday — his first blown save as Mariano Rivera’s replacement.
Seattle stacked its batting order with left-handed hitters against Kuroda. Entering the game, lefties had a .375 average against him while righties were batting .164.
Ackley put Seattle ahead three pitches in, sending a fastball to the opposite field over the left-field wall. It was the third leadoff homer of the year for the Mariners following drives by Chone Figgins on April 18 and 29.
New York came right back and tied it in the bottom half. Curtis Granderson singled, swiped second with two outs for his first stolen base of the season and scored on Cano’s sharp single to right. Hernandez had gone 18 consecutive starts without allowing a first-inning run, since July 22 at Boston.
Singles by Rodriguez and Cano put the Yankees in prime position with one out in the fourth. When Teixeira plopped a soft opposite-field single into left, Rodriguez tried to score and easily was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Mike Carp.
The Mariners’ right-handed batters were 0 for 5 before Montero’s opposite-field drive to right. Of his five home runs this year, he has one to right, one to right-center and two to straightaway center.
NOTES: Mariano Rivera was in the Yankees’ clubhouse, walking without crutches but limping. … Hector Noesi, obtained in the Montero trade, starts for the Mariners on Saturday against Phil Hughes. … Blake Beavan, hit on an arm by a Miguel Cabrera liner last Monday, will be pushed back from Sunday to Tuesday’s game at Boston. Seattle will start Kevin Millwood on Saturday, followed by Jason Vargas. … Jorge Posada had the Yankees’ previous pinch homer.