NEW YORK -- Paul Byrd used the elaborate, philosophic phrase "gosh dog-it" in discussing his feelings after the Indians' 1-0 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night.

Needless to say, Byrd could have used some more choice and less family friendly phrases after this one.

For seven innings, Byrd pitched as well as he has all season. He made one bad pitch -- a hanging curve to Robinson Cano -- and that pitch spelled his demise.

For when Cano blasted it into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium, the home team had all the help it needed to send the Tribe to its fourth loss in five games.

"It's a shame that was the game, you know?" Byrd said. "It's a shame it came down to one hanging breaking ball."

But that's what it came down to, because Yankees right-hander Chien-Ming Wang wasn't leaving anything hanging for the Indians.

Wang dominated the Tribe for 7 1/3 innings, holding them scoreless on five hits with a walk and three strikeouts.

The praise for Wang flowed freely afterward in the Tribe's quiet clubhouse.

"He has a great sinker, a heavy ball," Aaron Boone said. "That was about the best sinker we've seen this year. He was tough, no doubt about it."

Did the Indians have their chances against Wang? Yes, but not many of them.

The two hardest balls they hit all night came in the top of the sixth. Grady Sizemore led off with a double off the center-field wall.

"He hit it as hard as he can hit it," Byrd said of Sizemore. "I thought for sure it was gone."

Byrd might have thought the same of the steamer Casey Blake then hit to right. Unfortunately for Blake and the Indians, his ball was hauled in by Kevin Thompson, who made a standout catch. All Sizemore could do was tag up on the play.

Wang intentionally walked Travis Hafner, then got out of the jam by inducing a groundball double play off the bat of Victor Martinez.

"That worked out perfect for them," manager Eric Wedge said.

This outing, though, was going just as well for Byrd to that point. Through the game's first five innings, he found himself in some jams, but he forced the Yankees to leave seven men on base. And walks, which are traditionally Byrd's nemesis, didn't get in his way in this one. None of the three men he walked ended up scoring.

"That's the most encouraging thing," Byrd said. "That's probably the first time in years that has happened."

Want more evidence of how well this start was going for Byrd? How about the double play he helped turn in the fifth? With a runner on first, Byrd scooped up Derek Jeter's bouncing ground ball near the mound, jumped and pirouetted toward second and made the throw that got the double play going.

"Baryshnikov, the FTD florist, Michael Jordan," Byrd said, comparing himself to some leaping legends. "Some of the guys said I only got about eight inches off the ground. But don't let them fool you. It was a good three feet."

Byrd could joke about that play, but he wasn't joking much about the pitch he threw to Cano the next inning. With one out and a 1-1 count, Byrd hung that curve, and the deciding run was hammered home.

"I tried to locate it down and away and make a good pitch and not overthrow it," Byrd said. "But I hung it. He did what he should have with that hanging curveball."

Aside from that one pitch, Byrd, who has strung together quality starts in four of his last five outings, did what he should have done on this night.

"He was in and out and up and down," Wedge said of Byrd's pitches. "That's the way he pitches. He did a great job for us."

The Indians, who fell back to three games under .500, just couldn't back him up. Not against Wang. And not against the Yankee bullpen.

"We battled with a very good team over there," Byrd said. "They got a great pitching performance tonight, and it just didn't work for us. But over the long haul, if we continue to pitch and play like we did tonight, I like our chances."