ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Tampa Bay Rays are one win away from making baseball’s feel-good story of the year an even more remarkable tale.

The surprising AL East champions beat the Chicago White Sox 6-2 Friday, remaining unbeaten in their young postseason history and closing in on a spot in the American League championship series.

Pitching, defense and timely hitting have been the formula for success all season. Nothing’s changed in building a 2-0 lead over the AL Central champion White Sox in their first-round playoff matchup.

“They’re here for a reason,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. “They’re here because they can pitch and they catch the ball. They will take any little thing and take advantage of their speed and they don’t strike out much. When you have that combination … you can be anything in the big leagues.”

The Rays go for a sweep when the series resumes Sunday in Chicago. Tampa Bay’s Matt Garza (11-9) faces John Danks (12-9), trying to seal a matchup against World Series champion Boston or the Los Angeles Angels in the next round.

“We’re a relaxed bunch,” Rays outfielder Rocco Baldelli said. “We chill out in the clubhouse. We have fun. That’s what got us here.”

Of the 35 teams to fall behind 2-0 in the division series before this year, just five have come back to advance, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

But the Rays, who won 97 games this year after finishing with the worst record in the majors a year ago, don’t want to get ahead of themselves.

The White Sox saved their season by winning three straight games, including a tiebreaker that determined the Central title, to earn their postseason berth.

Now they’re returning to U.S. Cellular Field, where they had third-best home record in AL behind Tampa Bay and Boston.

“We’ve been in this situation before, just the other day,” said Chicago’s Jermaine Dye, who was 4-for-5. “We know what we got to do.”

It’s been a bleak October for both Chicago teams, who are in the postseason together for the first time since 1906.

The Cubs lost their first two NL playoff games at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“We’re against the wall,” Guillen said. “We’ve got to fight like a cat, and now it’s a must-win game.”

Chicago started quickly, scoring twice in the first on Jim Thome’s RBI single and Alexei Ramirez’s sacrifice fly, but Kazmir struck out Juan Uribe with the bases loaded to end the inning after three straight foul balls.

Dioner Navarro’s run-scoring single off Mark Buehrle in the second began the comeback following a two-base throwing error by Ramirez at second. Akinori Iwamura gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead with a two-run homer off Buehrle in the fifth.

The Rays added three runs in the eighth, when B.J. Upton tripled and scored on Carl Crawford’s single, which chased Buehrle. Baldelli’s run-scoring single against Octavio Dotel made it 5-2, and Navarro followed with a RBI double off Matt Thornton.

“It was really one of those games that you expect out of us,” Rays rookie Fernando Perez said. “Everybody does something, and we come back from a deficit.”

Left-hander Scott Kazmir settled after a shaky first to keep the Rays close until Iwamura put them ahead. He pitched into the sixth, when the bullpen took over and worked 3 2-3 scoreless innings.

“You can’t sit there and say they’re getting lucky,” Buehrle said. “They’re coming up with timely hitting. … They’re making big pitches when they need to.”

Chicago threatened in the second and fourth but couldn’t score. The White Sox stranded eight runners before falling behind and finished 3-for-12 with men in scoring position.

“We got Kazmir against the ropes and we let him go,” Guillen said. “And we left 12 people on base. You’re not going to win that many games like that.”

Kazmir allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings, leaving after Uribe’s leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt in the sixth. Maddon brought in Grant Balfour to face Orlando Cabrera, who had a heated exchange with the Rays reliever before striking out in a crucial situation during Tampa Bay’s 6-4 win in Game 1.

Balfour got the better of Cabrera again, but this time without the dramatics of Thursday when the players shouted at each other after Balfour said something to himself on the mound and the White Sox shortstop mistakenly thought he was talking to him.

Cabrera grounded to second base, moving Uribe to third, before Balfour escaped the jam by getting Nick Swisher on a flyout.

“The opportunities were there,” Guillen said, “and we couldn’t get it done.”