NEW YORK -- Randy Johnson wasn't in much of a mood to assess his latest start on Tuesday night, saying simply that he pitched "not very well" based on the 6-2 Devil Rays win over the Yankees.

But Johnson didn't pitch nearly as poorly as his pitching line indicated, as the Big Unit was victimized by the long ball for a second consecutive outing.

Last Thursday, Johnson allowed just five hits in seven innings against Boston, but three of those hits left the ballpark, leading to five runs. Tuesday, a pair of homers by Eduardo Perez resulted in another loss for the Yankees, as Johnson's occasional mistake continues to be hammered over the fence.

"Today, I thought he was lights-out, except for two pitches," said Jorge Posada. "The mistakes are going out instead of being pop flies."

The loss was Johnson's first of the season, though New York is just 2-2 in his four starts. He has allowed almost as many earned runs (15) as hits (19) in his last three starts, and his control has been typically good, walking just three batters while striking out 21 in 20 1/3 innings.

"I'm frustrated that I haven't pitched well since I've been a Yankee. Other than Opening Day, I'm disappointed," Johnson said. "I think that should go without being said. Anybody, let alone myself, would be disappointed. There's nothing I can do about it. I'll go out there, work hard before my next start and try to pitch a little better."

"To me, you know what Randy Johnson is," said manager Joe Torre. "You certainly don't like to see it, but it's not a concern."

The loss, the ninth in the last 12 games for New York, dropped the Yankees into a last-place tie with the Devil Rays at 5-9.

"Right now, we still have to mount a little momentum, win eight out of 10, something like that," Torre said. "We're certainly capable."

Johnson started out well on Tuesday, shutting Tampa Bay out over the first three innings. A one-out single by Aubrey Huff set up Perez's two-run blast, on a slider that stayed up in the zone.

Johnson appeared to settle down after the homer, tossing a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth, but Perez struck again in the seventh, driving a 1-2 fastball over the left-field fence. Perez became the first player to go deep twice against Johnson in a game since Marquis Grissom did it with Los Angeles on May 26, 2002.

"You don't see it too often, and I'm sure you won't see it again," said Derek Jeter of Perez's two-homer day against Johnson. "He had a good approach today and put some good swings on some good pitches."

The Yankees didn't do much to support Johnson, scoring just one run in 5 2/3 innings against Hideo Nomo, who was pitching on three days' rest. The lone run came on a solo shot by Jason Giambi in the second, but Nomo held New York to just six hits, getting some help from his defense.

New York tried to be aggressive, but Tampa Bay continually made the plays it needed to in order to stop the momentum from building. Jeter was caught stealing in the first and Tino Martinez hit into a double play on a hit-and-run in the fifth, erasing runners from the basepaths. Later in the fifth, Luis Sojo waved Tony Womack, who had been on first, around to try to score on Jeter's double, but a perfect relay from Huff to Jorge Cantu to Toby Hall nailed Womack at the plate, preserving a 2-1 lead.

"We try to play an aggressive style of play," Torre said. "Tino hit a ball hard on the hit-and-run, but it happened to be in a place where Lugo made a [heck] of a play. That's the game. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."

"We played flawlessly in the field," said Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella. "The relay from Huff to Cantu to get Jeter at the plate and the double play that Lugo turned on a hit-and-run, that's good baseball."

New York mounted a threat in the seventh, cutting the lead to 3-2 after Womack singled in Posada. That put men on first and second for Jeter, who didn't try to bunt them over, instead looking for a base hit to tie the game. It didn't work, as Jeter grounded into a double play, and Travis Harper was able to pitch his way out of the frame, stranding Martinez on third as the tying run.

"We had a chance," Posada said. "We had guys on base, but we couldn't get that big hit."

Johnson came back out for the eighth, but the Rays used a pair of singles and a rare error by Jeter to pad the lead. Tom Gordon allowed two more run-scoring singles in relief, giving Danys Baez a pressure-free ninth to close out the game for Tampa Bay.

When all was said and done, Johnson was charged with six runs, five earned, on six hits in 7 1/3 innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out nine, but that didn't serve as any kind of silver lining for him.

"The last couple of starts, I haven't pitched well, numbers-wise," he said. "You can't say you'd like to take away a pitch here or there. If you throw them and get the results you get, then obviously something isn't right.

"Something isn't right," he added. "We'll get there. I will get there."