Shortly before the Yankees’ 6-4 victory against Tampa Bay on Saturday night, a reporter from an Asian television network asked Manager Joe Torre if the third- year starter Chien-Ming Wang was the ace of his staff. Torre smiled and acknowledged that Wang was very good but that such a characterization might rankle veterans like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. But Wang certainly looked like an ace after raising his record to 10-4, giving him twice as many victories as Pettitte, who is second on the staff in wins. Wang, a sinkerball pitcher from Taiwan, gave up three runs in the first inning but had impressive stretches after that. So did Bobby Abreu, a key cog from another continent. Abreu, of Venezuela, had five runs batted in, two on a home run in the fifth, one on a double and the other two on impressive outs. Wang left after six innings, after giving up three runs and seven hits with six strikeouts and no walks. Relievers Ron Villone, Kyle Farnsworth and Mariano Rivera each pitched an inning to preserve the victory before a crowd of 36,048 at Tropicana Field. It was the second sellout of the season in this domed stadium, the first since opening day. The building actually has more seats, but thousands in the upper deck are covered with tarps and not available for baseball games. Devil Rays starter Andy Sonnanstine (1-4) took the loss. Carlos Pena drove in three runs for Tampa Bay, one on a home run. The Yankees (44-44) are 7-3 in their past 10 games and back at .500. They remain 10 games behind first-place Boston in the American League East because the Red Sox beat Toronto, 9-4. The Devil Rays scored three runs in the first mostly because of ground balls through the infield, which often happens with sinkerball pitchers. But one grounder was a fielder’s choice on a grounder by Carl Crawford; it might have been a double play had it been fielded cleanly by second baseman Robinson Cano. Two batters later, Pena drove in two runs with a double down the first-base line, just past the glove of Andy Phillips. The third run scored on a double to left by Delmon Young. The Yankees got a run back in the third when Abreu beat out a possible double play at first base that would have ended the inning. They added another in fourth on a leadoff home run by Hideki Matsui, his 13th of the season and his fifth in the last eight games. In the second inning, Matsui doubled. The Yankees pulled ahead, 4-3, in the fifth on a two-out, two-run homer to right by Abreu, his seventh. Wang, after giving up a single to Akinori Iwamura in the second inning, retired the next 12 batters until Young and B. J. Upton hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the sixth. Wang then hit Ty Wigginton on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. That brought the pitching coach Ron Guidry to the mound and caused Villone and Scott Proctor to warm up in the bullpen. But Wang got the next batter, Jonny Gomes, on a called third strike with a fastball on the outside part of the plate. It seemed as if half the fans were cheering for Gomes to get a hit, but when he let strike three pass by, the other half cheered for Wang. A curious moment came earlier when Wang pitched to Brendan Harris, the shortstop, leading off the top of the third. The ball hit something and bounced in front of the plate. Posada picked it up and tagged the batter, and the home plate umpire, Ed Hickox, signaled him out. However, replays seemed to suggest that the pitch might have hit Harris on the hand. While Manager Joe Maddon argued the decision, a trainer examined Harris and all four umpires gathered to discuss the call. In that none could definitively overrule the call, the decision stood and Harris remained out. The Yanks drove Sonnanstine from the mound in the seventh when Derek Jeter doubled Johnny Damon to third. Abreu greeted relief pitcher Brian Stokes with a line drive off the glove of Wigginton that drove in Damon and made the score 5-3. After Villone pitched a scoreless seventh inning, Torre replaced him with Farnsworth, who gave up a home run to Pena that cut the Yankees’ lead to 5-4. Farnsworth also allowed a two-out walk to Upton, who was retired trying to steal with Wigginton at the plate. After the close play, Upton argued heatedly with Joe West, the umpire. In the ninth, the Yankees increased their lead to 6-4 when Abreu doubled home Damon. --

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