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CWS@NYY: Dunn singles home Quentin in the sixth

NEW YORK -- The impressive career record of Mark Buehrle stands at 149-113 after Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Yankees before 40,586 at Yankee Stadium.

Those numbers speak to the movement on Buehrle's pitches, topping out around 89 or 90 mph, his expert location and his simple knowledge of how to win games on the mound. Now, take that ledger, subtract Buehrle's 1-8 career record and 6.38 ERA in 12 starts against the Yankees (13-8) and what do you have?

Well, probably a pitcher who was a bit more satisfied than the left-hander following the third act of this four-game set.

Buehrle (1-3) was actually dominant for six of his seven innings, allowing just four baserunners from the second through the seventh. It was that first inning that cost him the victory.

Derek Jeter drew a four-pitch leadoff walk, which is never a good way to start and a rarity for Buehrle. Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira struck out, but Alex Rodriguez dropped a bloop single in the perfect location, between second baseman Gordon Beckham and right fielder Carlos Quentin, sending Jeter to third.

"When you struggle against a team, stuff like that happens," said Buehrle with a half-smile.

Robinson Cano followed with a laser beam to right field on a 1-1 pitch from Buehrle (1-3), giving the Yankees an early 3-0 lead.

"You make a good pitch on the bloop single, then the blast," said Buehrle, who threw 62 of his 106 pitches for strikes, striking out five. "I'll still take that pitch. It was a sinker down and in, and obviously, that's his sweet spot."

"A two-seamer, middle in," said Cano of his sixth home run. "I guess he was trying to go in. Obviously, he just left it in the middle of the plate."

That first-inning blast might not have meant as much if the White Sox (10-15) could have done anything against Yankees starter Bartolo Colon (2-1). The burly right-hander is no stranger to the White Sox, having pitched on the same staff with Buehrle in both 2003 and '09.

Well, Colon was sort of with the White Sox in 2009. He made just 12 starts over an injury-plagued season and was often hard to locate when he was rehabbing away from the team.

Past issues were not where Colon was concerned on Wednesday. The White Sox marveled at Colon's velocity, which reached the mid-90s, but they were more impressed at the movement from his two-seamer and how he held them to one run on seven hits over eight innings by simply using his fastball.

"Colon was amazing," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen of the Yankees starter, who struck out six and walked one. "Colon was, wow. I thought [Don] Cooper was a pretty good pitching coach. I don't remember seeing him throwing that good since Cleveland or when he was pitching in Anaheim.

"It was amazing how that ball had a lot of movement. Buehrle pitched very good. Colon pitched better."

Guillen credited Colon for giving the White Sox everything he had in 2009 and expressed pride in the right-hander's comeback to top form. Buehrle raved about his mound counterpart and onetime rotation mate.

"Velocity-wise, movement, that's the best I've seen him throw," Buehrle said. "He's always had that movement, but velocity-wise and seeing some sinkers he's throwing, they were pretty much unhittable pitches.

"These guys are obviously going out there battling. There was back in the day, but the last couple of years, he was in the big leagues and so far this year, that's the best he's thrown."

Consecutive one-out singles from Quentin, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn in the sixth scored the White Sox lone run. But Alex Rios flied out to right and A.J. Pierzynski took a called third strike to end the rally.

In the second, the White Sox loaded the bases with nobody out on singles from Dunn and Pierzynski sandwiched around a walk issued to Rios, but they didn't score. Beckham struck out looking, Omar Vizquel lofted a short fly to left without the baserunners moving and Juan Pierre flied out to center.

"It's going to happen -- I'm going to strike out," said Beckham, whose 6-for-55 slump has dropped his average to .198. "I wish it wasn't with the bases loaded in a game we need, but it's going to happen, so I just have to live with it."

The thwarted second-inning rally for the White Sox took place without Guillen, who was ejected after the White Sox batted in the first inning by home-plate umpire Todd Tichenor. Guillen was defending Konerko, who didn't like a called third strike call from Tichenor to end the inning, Guillen and encouraged Tichenor not to be intimidated by the Yankees, who had complained about the previous pitch.

Lost in the great pitching from Colon and Buehrle, as well as Guillen's on-field anger, was another rough night for the White Sox offense. For the 14th time this season and the 12th time in 13 games, they were held to three runs or fewer, losing for the 11th time in 14 contests and slipping to 3-7 on this 11-game, three-city road trip.

Wednesday's setback followed two exciting wins for the White Sox over the Yankees. Unfortunately for Buehrle, he could not get the White Sox in that New York state of mind for Game 3.

"Obviously, I saw enough and read enough coming into the game about how bad I've pitched against these guys," Buehrle said. "Everybody has that one team you can't beat."

"Unfortunately, the way we're hitting right now, I don't want to say we have to be perfect ... but Buehrle pitched very good," Guillen said. "Keep pitching like that, and he will win a lot of games."

Scott Merkin is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Being Ozzie Guillen, and follow him on Twitter @scottmerkin. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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