Yoenis Cespedes was back, and there was talk of the return of two more other key pieces, Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce, in the not-too-distant future.

But the player the Mets would really like to see — the 2017 version of Michael Conforto — may have returned as well.

At least for one night.

Conforto, an All-Star a year ago and a symbol of the Mets’ dismal season this year, went line to line with a pair of run-scoring hits and added a sacrifice fly, part of an offensive barrage for the usually anemic Mets in a 7-5 victory over the Yankees at the Stadium on Friday night.

“That’s definitely how you want to start,” he said following the opener of the second installment of the Subway Series.

In the first, Conforto roped a 95 mph Domingo German fastball inside the first-base line to plate Asdrubal Cabrera. And in the fifth, he stayed back on a backdoor slider, lining a single to the opposite field. Later, in the ninth, he drove in his third run of the evening, working his way back from down 1-2 in the count for a sacrifice fly to left-center, producing a much-needed insurance run.

“That’s my game and it’s what we’ve been working on before the break, putting in a lot of time, trying to use the whole field,” Conforto said.

It was a pleasant sight for the Mets. The 25-year-old Conforto has been a major disappointment in his fourth major league season, entering the contest with a pedestrian .710 OPS and subpar slash line of .216/.344/.366. His last multi-hit game had come June 21 and he was hitting .163 (7-for-43) in July.

There have been some mini hot streaks but no stretch of sustained productivity after Conforto missed the season’s first five games following major offseason surgery to repair a dislocation and a torn posterior capsule in his left shoulder. He hasn’t blamed the injury or his lack of offseason hitting for his trying season. Conforto has maintained he needs to keep working and produce better results.

He got a breather this week, spending time in the Hamptons with friends. It seemed to do the trick.

“It’s always good to use that break when you can,” Conforto said. “Obviously, I would love to be in the All-Star Game, but I think it was good for me to get away from it, relax a little bit and enjoy some time off.”

It’s hard to argue with the results.