CHICAGO – Randy Johnson sat by his locker and shook his head as he searched for reasons, an effort that was futile.

A dazed and frustrated Johnson allowed home runs to three consecutive batters for the first time in his major league career and four in all during the fourth inning, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Yankees 6-2 yesterday to stop a seven game losing streak.

“I felt great,” said Johnson, who allowed the homers in a 16-pitch span. “The velocity was there.”

But afterward, he felt miserable. Given a 1-0 lead, Johnson allowed consecutive solo homers to Tadahito Iguchi, Aaron Rowand, and Paul Konerko with one out in the fourth and, after singles by Jermaine Dye and Juan Uribe, a three-run shot to Chris Widger.

Johnson (11-8) has allowed 29 homers, the most in the AL and second in the major leagues behind Cincinnati’s Eric Milton (35).

The Big Unit, who missed a start earlier this month because of a bad back, allowed 10 hits, struck out eight, and walked none in his fourth complete game this season. His ERA rose to 4.34, but both Johnson and manager Joe Torre said he pitched well.

“His stuff was good,” Torre said. “He’s going to win games pitching like that.”

Scott Sanderson and Catfish Hunter were the only other Yankees pitchers to allow four homers in an inning.

Former Yankee Jose Contreras (8-7) allowed two runs – one earned – and 11 hits, and matched his career-high by pitching eight innings. He struck out five and walked none.

“We got 11 hits off of him, so we had some opportunities,” Torre said. “We really never had him on the ropes. He had a great splitter, and it looked like that was what was getting the lefthanded hitters. They just couldn’t identify it and he was getting a lot of swings and misses.”

After allowing a leadoff single to Pablo Ozuna in the first, Johnson retired nine straight batters before a White Sox offense that scored two runs in its previous three games came to life.

“How do you explain something like that?” Johnson said. “It’s the one thing that I’ll walk away from this game not really understanding.”

Johnson is 0-2 with two no-decisions since July 26.

“I felt very comfortable watching Randy pitch,” Torre said. “The first three innings it looked like he was having an easy time locating the ball. But that inning, it seemed like the more pitches he tried to make, the less success he had trying to locate them.”