After his teammate was demoted to the bullpen on Thursday following several rough starts, Jaret Wright might be feeling the pressure. On Friday, he looks to redeem himself following his worst start of the season when he opens a three-game series for the New York Yankees against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Wright (4-5, 4.61 ERA) hasn't pitched past the sixth inning in any of his 14 starts this season, and is coming off his shortest appearance of the year. The right-hander pitched 1 2-3 innings on Sunday against the New York Mets, giving up four runs and seven hits, but managed to escape without a decision as the Yankees won 16-7.

Wright is 1-2 with a 5.58 ERA in his last six starts.

He isn't the only Yankees pitcher that's struggling, however. Of the five starts by New York pitchers this week, two of them lasted fewer than two innings, and a third went less than six.

On Thursday, Yankees manager Joe Torre sent Shawn Chacon to the bullpen after the right-hander went 0-2 with a 12.11 ERA in four starts since returning from the disabled list.

''I wasn't surprised, but I wouldn't say I was expecting it,'' said Chacon, who gave up seven runs in 1 1-3 innings on Tuesday in the Yankees' 19-1 loss to Cleveland. ''That's the way it works. You have to pitch well to keep your job.''

Wright is 5-1 with a 4.30 ERA in nine starts against the Devil Rays and has won his last four decisions against them.

The Yankees (48-35) split their four-game series against the Indians with a 10-4 win on Thursday. Randy Johnson pitched a solid game, giving up one run through seven innings before unraveling in the eighth. He loaded the bases and would give up three runs before Torre went to his bullpen.

''I'm not happy,'' Johnson said. ''It went from two hits to seven, from one run to four. I could be content with that, but I'm competitive.''

Derek Jeter was 3-for-4, Jason Giambi hit a two-run homer and both had three RBIs on Thursday.

The Devil Rays (38-48) will hand the ball to Jae Seo (0-1, 3.86 ERA), who is making his second start with the team after being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 27.

Seo pitched five innings on Tuesday, giving up four runs and seven hits while walking two in a 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals. It was his first start since June 2.

''I thought his velocity got better as his game went on,'' Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. ''We've just got to get him some steady work. And I thought he got sharper as the game got deeper so I thought that was a good sign.''

Seo is 0-1 with a 6.55 ERA in two starts against Yankees.

Tampa Bay came close to a four-game sweep of the Red Sox, but lost the finale 12-5 on Thursday. The Devil Rays trailed by one after eight innings, but Shawn Camp gave up six runs in the ninth, including a grand slam to David Ortiz.

''I'm not upset about a thing right now,'' Maddon said. ''If you said before this series: 'How about three out of four?' I think I would have been pretty pleased with that. We're OK.''

Aubrey Huff was 3-for-4 with a solo home run in the fourth inning on Thursday. Huff is hitting .418 (23-for-55) with four homers and six doubles over the last 14 games.