Kansas City had little trouble handling the Chicago White Sox to open the follow-up to its AL pennant-winning season.
The Royals have usually fared well against Jose Quintana, and they'll look to keep the White Sox left-hander winless against them Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Alex Rios hit a three-homer in his Kansas City debut and Yordano Ventura pitched into the seventh inning before leaving with a thumb cramp in Monday's 10-1 rout of Chicago.
"They don't have to wonder if they can do it anymore, they know that they can do it," manager Ned Yost told the Royals' official website. "Having that experience, having that knowledge, having that belief, is a big thing to have at the start of the season."
A bullpen that posted a 1.06 ERA over the final 10 regular-season games and a 0.96 ERA in the division and championship series yielded one hit over three innings Tuesday.
The Royals recorded three double plays and picked off a runner.
Rios had three hits and Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez each had two in Kansas City's 12th win in 15 games against Chicago.
"We just find a way to win and at the end of the day the numbers will be there," Moustakas said.
The Royals' numbers have been relatively good when facing Quintana, 0-6 with a 4.38 ERA in 12 starts against them after allowing five runs and 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings of a 6-3 loss Sept. 25. Quintana went 0-3 with a 4.88 ERA in four starts against Kansas City in 2014, though he allowed three runs in 7 1/3 innings of a 3-1 loss in his only appearance at Kauffman last May 21.
Lorenzo Cain and Alex Gordon went a combined 11 for 25 with five doubles off Quintana last season. Perez was 3 for 8 with a triple, while Rios went 2 for 3 with a double in the matchup with Texas in 2014.
Despite the struggles against Kansas City and a 2-2 record and 4.94 ERA in seven spring training starts, Quintana is excited to start building on a 2014 in which he went 9-11 with a 3.32 ERA in 32 starts.
"I feel great," he told the White Sox's official website. "I think this spring was good for me, a good time for preparation. ... I'm ready to go."
The Royals will hand the ball to Danny Duffy, who went 8-11 with a 2.55 ERA in 25 starts after joining the rotation in early May. After striking out nine over seven scoreless innings of a 9-1 win at Chicago on June 14, the left-hander yielded four runs in two innings of a 5-4 road loss to the White Sox on Sept. 27.
Jose Abreu hit one of his 36 home runs off Duffy in that contest, and went deep in the seventh Monday. The latter was one of five hits for the White Sox, who don't seem too concerned with the poor showing.
"Not the way we wanted to start it up," said first baseman Adam LaRoche, who went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his White Sox debut. "The key is to shake that one off and come right back out Wednesday ready to go."
