Rays-White Sox Preview

His stuff is far from overpowering, but Chicago White Sox left-hander Mark Buehrle keeps finding ways to win games. Especially at home.

Buehrle goes for his 15th victory in his last 21 starts at U.S. Cellular Field on Thursday afternoon when the White Sox try to take three of four from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Making his first start since pitching a scoreless inning in the All-Star Game, Buehrle (10-3, 3.52 ERA) walked none and allowed one run over 7 1/3 innings in Saturday's 4-3 win over visiting Baltimore.

"Every time I take Buehrle out, I always ask (catcher A.J. Pierzynski): 'How does he do this?" White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "But he knows how: throwing strikes, changing speeds and hitting locations. That's why he makes a lot of money."

Buehrle's win, which gave him double-digit victories for the ninth straight season, improved his mark at U.S. Cellular Field in 2009 to 6-1 with a 2.81 ERA in 11 starts.

"As soon as Ozzie came out of the dugout, (the crowd) started going crazy," Buehrle told the team's official Web site Saturday. "I love pitching here and I love how they support me."

Since his first start following the 2008 All-Star break, the 30-year-old left-hander is 14-1 with a 2.47 ERA in 20 starts at home.

Buehrle is 5-2 with a 4.21 ERA in 11 starts against Tampa Bay (52-43), including a victory April 18 when he yielded three runs in 6 2/3 innings of an 8-3 win at Tropicana Field.

Rays left-hander Scott Kazmir (4-5, 6.62) lost that game after walking a season-high six and giving up six runs in four innings.

On Thursday, Kazmir makes his fifth start since missing more than a month with a right quadriceps strain. In Saturday's 4-2 victory at Kansas City, the 25-year-old did not factor in the decision after surrendering one run and four hits. Kazmir was relieved after six innings due to cramps in his left forearm.

"We already put fluids in me and it feels great," he said. "Everything is fine now. Everything is good."

Kazmir, though, is 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA since his last victory May 9 at Boston.

He'll look to give Tampa Bay a four-game split following Wednesday's 4-3 loss. After the Rays rallied with two ninth-inning runs in Tuesday's 3-2 victory, Chicago (49-45) returned the favor Wednesday when it scored four answered runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

After center fielder Scott Podsednik sit a solo shot in the sixth, Alexei Ramirez had a two-out, two-run triple in the seventh and Jermaine Dye followed with an RBI single as Chicago improved to 4-2 on its seven-game homestand and pulled within one game of Detroit for the AL Central lead.

"(I) just tried to stay focus and relax and just try to continue to have a gameplan," Dye said after the White Sox improved to 5-2 versus the Rays in 2009. "A guy (Chad Bradford) gets hurt (lower back stiffness while warming up) on their staff and they bring in another pitcher (Dan Wheeler) and you have to try to think what he is going try to do to you."

Dye is 5 for 17 with two homers lifetime versus Kazmir.

Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist hit safely in his 12th straight game Wednesday with a leadoff single in the sixth. He is batting .413 (19 for 46) during this stretch.

Chicago's victory Wednesday clinched a season series win over Tampa Bay for the eighth time in 11 seasons. Thursday is the teams' final regular-season meeting.