White Sox squander their chance in Kansas City, fall to Royals, 5-4

Instead, they lost, 5-4. Apparently, taking control of your own destiny sounded a little too easy.

Bryan Hudson 's opening assignment was to get through the top of the Royals' order. That plan lasted five batters. Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr. opened with singles. After Jac Caglianone grounded out, Maikel Garcia drove in two runs with a base hit and Vinnie Pasquantino doubled home another.

Having seen enough, skipper Will Venable called for bulk reliever Erick Fedde . The veteran punched out Salvador Perez before Kansas City tacked on an unearned run on a bad throw by Colson Montgomery to take a 4-0 lead. Fedde finally got out of the inning by getting John Rave to fly out. The opener strategy works considerably better when the opener gets more than one batter out.