NEW YORK— Andy Pettitte heard the cheers when he jogged out to the mound to warm up for his first start after a rocky offseason. He tried to give the Yankee Stadium crowd another solid performance.

The rest of the day just didn't go as planned.

Jonny Gomes homered and drove in four runs against Pettitte to atone for two blunders, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 6-3 today.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say that it was great and (I'm) much appreciative," Pettitte said of the welcome he got from the crowd of 52,247. "I wish I could've given them a better performance than that."

Pettitte was on a shorter-than-normal pitch count after he opened the season on the disabled list with back spasms. He lasted just five innings and was outpitched by Edwin Jackson, who held the powerful Yankees lineup in check.

"He had a really good slider today, mixed in the changeup," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Jackson. "He's one of those guys, once he gets in the flow of the game he can be very tough."

It was Pettitte's first regular-season start since he admitted using human growth hormone and accused buddy and former teammate Roger Clemens of also using HGH.

New York was again without Joe Girardi, who missed his second straight game with an upper respiratory infection. The first-year Yankees manager was at the ballpark and bench coach Rob Thomson said about 2 1/2 hours before the game that he thought Girardi would be back in the dugout.

But the club announced right before the first pitch that Thomson would manage the team for the second straight day.

"Yesterday I had a 103 (degree) temperature," Girardi said. "I think I'll be all right tomorrow."

Yankees slugger Jason Giambi also was day to day after departing in the fifth inning with a sore left groin.

Jackson (1-0) allowed one run and five hits in six innings and Willie Aybar homered for the Rays, who have won the first two of the four-game series between teams that clashed in spring training. Troy Percival pitched the ninth for his first save.

Pettitte's turbulent winter started when the Mitchell Report was released in December. Brian McNamee, the former personal trainer to Pettitte and Clemens, said in the report that Pettitte used HGH in 2002 while with the Yankees.

Pettitte first said he only used HGH once, but later admitted he also took injections in 2004 after obtaining the substance from his ailing father.

Pettitte also was asked to testify before a House committee investigating drug use in sports but was excused after he appeared for a deposition and submitted an affidavit. He told congressional lawyers that Clemens informed him nearly a decade ago he had used HGH and said McNamee let him know in 2003 or 2004 that Clemens had used steroids.

Clemens claims Pettitte "misremembers."

The crowd made it clear quickly tody how it felt about Pettitte, who was making his 151st start in the Bronx. There was a loud ovation when the left-hander was announced with the starting lineup and more cheers before he warmed up for the first inning.

The Rays pushed across two unearned runs in the third after first baseman Shelley Duncan's throwing error and Gomes delivered the big blow in the fifth, hitting a three-run homer to make it 5-1.

"It was a 2-2 changeup," Gomes said. "You can't sit on much with two strikes but I thought I might see one."

Pettitte (0-1) struck out Shawn Riggins with a runner on second to end the fifth, and threw 55 of his 86 pitches for strikes. He allowed eight hits, walked two and hit Carlos Pena twice.

"There was no doubt I was rusty," said Pettitte, who hadn't pitched since he went six innings in a minor league game last Sunday.

Gomes was back in the lineup after serving a one-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing incident against the Yankees on March 12. He went 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly, overcoming two bad plays involving the shadow that blankets the right-field corner on sunny days at Yankee Stadium.

Gomes hit a long drive to right in the second and started trotting as he rounded first. The ball stayed in play and Gomes was tagged out between first and second. He was charged with an error in the bottom half when he had trouble with Hideki Matsui's flyball to right.

"I lost it. High sky, real big wind blowing from left to right, it is what you saw," Gomes said of the fielding miscue.

Notes: The Rays placed C Dioner Navarro on the 15-day disabled list and called up C Mike DiFelice from Triple-A Durham. Navarro needed stitches on two fingers on his right hand after a nasty fall in the dugout during Friday night's game. ... Rays DH Elliot Johnson singled to left in the fourth inning for his first major league hit, and was picked off by Pettitte. ... The Yankees optioned right-hander Jonathan Albaladejo to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before the game to make room for Pettitte.