MILWAUKEE – Randy Johnson and the Yankees were no better in Milwaukee.

Geoff Jenkins ran down Derek Jeter’s drive in the rightfield corner for the final out, preserving the Brewers’ 4-3 victory last night and ruining New York’s first trip to Milwaukee since 1997.

Jeff Cirillo homered and drove in two runs, and Derrick Turnbow escaped a ninth-inning jam to send the slumping Yankees to their eighth loss in nine games.

With pressure mounting from impatient owner George Steinbrenner, the Yankees fell to 1-6 on their 12-game road trip and dipped below .500 at 28-29.

New York put the potential tying run on second base with none out in the ninth, but Turnbow struck out rookie Robinson Cano and got pinch-hitter Ruben Sierra on a groundout.

Jeter then sliced a drive to right that appeared headed for the corner – probably an extra-base hit that would tie the game. But Jenkins, running at full speed, reached out and made a terrific grab, leaving Jeter grimacing as he rounded first base.

Junior Spivey broke a 3-all tie with his fifth homer leading off the sixth, sending Johnson’s first pitch over the left-field wall. It was the first hit Johnson allowed since Cirillo’s solo shot in the third.

Johnson (5-5) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out eight.

Cirillo doubled home Brady Clark in the first and scored on Carlos Lee’s single for a 2-0 lead. Cirillo’s homer in the third made it 3-0, but the Brewers stranded two runners, just as they did in the second inning. Those missed opportunities proved costly an inning later when the Yankees tied it at 3.

Jason Giambi started the comeback with a run-scoring single. Then, with the bases full and one out, first baseman Wes Helms made a diving stop of Cano’s high-hopper, but instead of flipping to pitcher Doug Davis covering the bag for the second out with the pitcher on deck, he made a sidearm throw home that was off-target, allowing Jorge Posada to score the Yankees’ second run.

Giambi tied it at 3 when he scored from third on Davis’s wild pitch with Johnson up at bat.

Davis recovered to strike out Johnson and Jeter with runners at second and third and had to rescue himself again an inning later when he walked the bases full with nobody out before striking out Posada and inducing Giambi to hit into a double play.

Davis (8-5), who allowed three runs and four hits with five walks and eight strikeouts, finished his up-and-down outing with a 1-2-3 sixth before giving way to Matt Wise, who pitched a perfect seventh and eighth. Turnbow earned his ninth save in 11 opportunities.

Lee doubled in the seventh, his eighth hit in his last eight at-bats, tying a club record. Coming off his first career five-hit game at Los Angeles on Sunday, Lee went 2-for-2 with two walks.

Johnson’s 204 games with 10 or more strikeouts are second to Nolan Ryan, but he hasn’t reached double figures in any of his 12 starts for the Yankees.