Chicago ? Mark Buehrle knew he had another good inning in him.

Buehrle pitched a four-hitter for his third complete game of the season, and Jose Valentin hit his 28th homer to lead the Chicago White Sox over the Kansas City Royals, 5-1, Saturday night.

“I came in after the eighth inning, and they asked me if I wanted to go back out there,” Buehrle said. “I’m almost like, ‘Why wouldn’t I? I feel like I’m in the third inning, and I threw 40 pitches.’ Consistently in every game, late in games, I feel stronger and stronger.”

Carlos Lee also homered for Chicago, which has won six of its last eight games.

Buehrle (15-10) struck out six and walked one. He gave up the lone run on a homer by Joe Randa in the fourth inning.

Buehrle, who leads the AL with 2361/3 innings pitched, has won 15 or more games in three of his four full seasons in the majors. He retired 15 of the last 16 batters.

“To me, he is one of the best lefties, I don’t think in the league, but in baseball,” White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. “Believe me, a lot of managers want to have Buehrle on their staff because he is that good.”

Kansas City starter Denny Bautista (0-4) hit Aaron Rowand with a pitch and walked Lee in the sixth. Paul Konerko’s RBI single and Ross Gload’s run-scoring groundout gave the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Bautista still is looking for his first major-league victory. In his fourth start of the season, he pitched six innings, giving up just two runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked three.

“He threw the ball well,” Kansas City manager Tony Pena said. “I was really happy to see the way he approached today.”

Valentin padded Chicago’s lead in the seventh, tying his career high in homers with a solo shot against reliever Dennys Reyes.