Despite an eighth inning rally, the Kansas City Royals dropped the opener on the home stand to the White Sox, 5-3.
For the first time since 2015, World Series champion Johnny Cueto climbed the mound at Kauffman Stadium. Just like he did in the Royals’ remarkable postseason run, Cueto channeled his resonating swagger and dominated. Through the first three innings, he was perfect.
His counterpart, Brad Keller, looked just as smooth in the early-going. It wasn’t until a routine fly ball dropped between Michael A. Taylor and Andrew Benintendi that the right-hander ran into some trouble. Andrew Vaughn opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly to right field.