Buehrle (9-8) was nearly flawless through six innings against Oakland before giving up a run in the seventh that ended a scoreless streak of 26 1-3 innings by White Sox starters.
Carlos Quentin drove in two runs in his return to Chicago's linup and Omar Vizquel added two hits to move past Luke Appling into 50th place on baseball's career hit list, helping Chicago increase its lead to 2 1/2 games over Detroit in the AL Central.
Buehrle pitched a perfect game against Tampa Bay last season.
Quentin had not played since getting hit in his right wrist against Minnesota last Sunday. He missed three games but was back in the lineup Friday at designated hitter, a position he'll stay at for the next few days while Chicago tries to ease him back into the outfield.
One of the White Sox top hitters before getting hurt, Quentin picked up where he left off. He drew a pair of walks, knocked in Alex Rios with a sacrifice fly in the fourth then drove in Vizquel with a groundout in the sixth.
A.J. Pierzynski added a two-run single in the ninth off Oakland reliever Henry Rodriguez.
That's an encouraging sign for Chicago, which has won three of four on this road trip since dropping three of four at home against Minnesota.
Buehrle's performance was equally strong for the White Sox.
The lefty gave up a pair of doubles to Jack Cust and a two-out single to Coco Crisp in the third. The only run came in the seventh when Cust doubled in Kevin Kouzmanoff, who had also doubled.
Buehrle struck out two and didn't walk a batter for the third time in his last four starts. He also notched his second complete game of the season and earned his first career win in Oakland.
