Masahiro Tanaka was roughed up for the second straight start Saturday, allowing six earned runs and three home runs in just three innings as the New York Yankees went down 9-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Coming off the worst outing of his major league career in which he was hit around for eight runs and chased in the second, Tanaka gave up a homer to the first batter he faced in the game, Corey Dickerson.

After allowing another run in the second, the Japanese right-hander, now 5-3 on the year and who threw an irregular bullpen session a day earlier, was taken deep again by Evan Longoria in the third as Tampa Bay took a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, Tanaka allowed a leadoff double to Daniel Robertson and while he struck out the next man, Jesus Sucre, let Sucre reach on a wild pitch.

Dickerson then made Tanaka pay with his second blast of the game, a towering three-run shot that put the Rays up 6-3. Tanaka stayed on the mound, but was finally pulled by manager Joe Girardi after allowing two straight singles.

Tanaka surrendered nine hits in all, walked three and struck out four. He saw his ERA balloon to 6.56 after a game where both Girardi and pitching coach Larry Rothschild were tossed in the fifth.

Tanaka claims he knows how to fix himself.

"My mechanics aren't where they should be. I know the reason for this," Tanaka said. "I know what I've got to do so I just have to go out and take care of it."

Girardi said his ace is improving, but not yet all the way back.

"We've got to get him right," Girardi said, according to MLB.com. "I thought his slider was better today, I thought his split was better at times. He made some mistakes with his fastball."

"His stuff was better than his last start, but it's not where we need it to be, and we've got to continue to work at it."