Chicago ? Mark Buehrle raced to the third-base line and caught the popup himself, the final out in the top of the ninth. Then, he flipped the ball into the stands – what turned out to be the last throw of a stellar performance.

Buehrle walked off the field with the game tied, and minutes later raced back out to celebrate teammate Joe Crede’s game-winning double in a controversial finish as the Chicago White Sox evened the AL championship series with a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels in Game 2 on Wednesday night.

Buehrle allowed five hits, one a home run to Robb Quinlan, and came through for the White Sox when they couldn’t afford to fall into an 0-2 hole. The series shifts to California for the next three games.

“This is probably one of the best games of my career. I felt good the whole time out there,” he said.

“Obviously you don’t want to go into Anaheim down 2-0. You know how good they are. We didn’t know how the offense would respond to (Jarrod) Washburn with him being out awhile. I just tried to throw up as many zeros as I could, like all season long, and give the team a chance to score.”

The White Sox did that in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth when A.J. Pierzynski struck out for the apparent third out but reached when it was ruled former White Sox catcher Josh Paul didn’t hold on to a low third strike. And then Crede delivered.

“First happened, I thought Josh Paul threw the ball to the mound like he caught it. It’s a heads up play by A.J. to run to first base like that,” Buehrle said.

It’s the second straight playoff game Buehrle gained a victory with the help of a blunder by a former White Sox player.

Trailing 4-0 in Game 2 of the division series against Boston, the White Sox rallied and gave Buehrle a 5-4 win as Tadahito Iguchi hit a three-run homer right after an error by second baseman Tony Graffanino, who played three seasons with Chicago.

Buehrle, as usual, didn’t fool around and worked quickly. He got the ball and threw it. That’s why his average start time this season was two hours, 40 minutes, including three under two hours.

And he was ready to work the 10th inning if the game had stayed tied.

“(Pitching coach Don) Cooper came over and asked me after the ninth inning, asked me how I felt,” Buehrle said. “I said, ‘You sent me back out there in the ninth to face Vladimir, you might as well send me back out there.”