NEW YORK - Chien-Ming Wang, who was otherwise pretty good as a rookie in 2005, was inexplicably bad against the Devil Rays last year.

Not so in 2006. The 26-year-old right-hander from Taiwan allowed only a couple of bloop singles Friday and earned his first shutout as the Yankees throttled the Rays, 6-0, in front of a sellout crowd of 53,979 at Yankee Stadium.

Wang (12-4) was perfect through four innings, during which time the Yankees built a 5-0 lead against Rays starter Tim Corcoran (4-2).

Tampa Bay went without a base runner until Ty Wigginton led off the fifth inning with a soft liner to center field on a 1-1 pitch that rode in on his hands, but which he fought off just enough to end Wang's bid at perfection.

"I'd say he had no-hitter stuff tonight," Wigginton said. "As you could tell, the two hits we got, they weren't anything special."

The Rays' other hit came an inning later, when shortstop Julio Lugo punched a low liner to the right side, off the glove of second baseman Miguel Cairo and into short right field. Lugo stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch (which came on ball four to Carl Crawford), and that was as close as the Rays came to scoring.

The loss was the 10th straight on the road for the Rays. Their last win came June 30 at Washington, 11-1.

"I just thought I saw Mr. [Roy] Halladay out there," Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "It looked like that."

By that, Maddon meant a hard sinker that forced Rays batters into 17 ground-ball outs, similar to the command and force of will displayed by Halladay, Toronto's former Cy Young Award winner.

After going 1-3 with a 6.94 ERA in four starts against Tampa Bay last year, Wang is 2-0 with a 1.11 ERA in three starts against Tampa Bay this year.

"It was just hard for us to gain any kind of momentum against Wang," Maddon said.

Corcoran, a career reliever who was moved into the starting rotation when Seth McClung was demoted to Triple-A Durham last month, was ineffective for the third consecutive outing after beginning his major-league career 4-0.

The command issues that cost him a job out of spring training seem to have resurfaced during his past two starts, during which he has walked 10 batters in 6 1/3 innings - including six in 3 1/3 Friday.

"I feel like an idiot out there," Corcoran said. "You're out there supposed to throw strikes, and you're throwing balls. It's aggravating.

"I need to attack the strike zone more than the past couple of outings. I haven't been attacking the strike zone, walking people. It's ridiculous."

He fell victim to a questionable call in the second, before the game got out of hand. After Andy Phillips led off with a single, Melky Cabrera grounded to Corcoran, who (in his words) "alligator armed" the throw to Lugo covering at second base. Lugo bobbled the lobbed throw, but picked the ball up off the ground and stepped on the bag.

Second base umpire Alfonso Marquez called Phillips safe, though replays showed Lugo's foot reaching the bag before Phillips' foot.

Derek Jeter then lashed the first of his three hits for a two-run single, making it 3-0. Corcoran walked three batters in a row in the fourth inning, then was replaced by Chad Harville. Both pitchers walked in a run during that inning.

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or igaddis@tampatrib.