Surprise, Ariz. ? Making what he called a tough decision, Kansas City manager Tony Pena named left-hander Brian Anderson as the Royals’ opening-day starter for the April 5 game against the Chicago White Sox.

Two other left-handers, Darrell May and Jeremy Affeldt, will start the second and third games — in that order — against the White Sox, Pena said.

The opening-day assignment is the first for Anderson, who broke into the majors in 1993 and came to the Royals Aug. 25 in a trade with Cleveland for minor-leaguers Trey Dyson and Kieran Mattison.

Anderson made seven starts with Kansas City last year, going 5-1 with a 3.99 earned-run average. For all of 2003, he went 14-11 with a 3.78 ERA.

“I think he deserves to be the opening-day pitcher,” Pena said, adding the choice between Anderson and May was tough. “Darrell pitched so well for us last year.”

May was named Royals’ pitcher of the year in 2003 after going 10-8 with a 3.77 ERA in 35 games, including 32 starts.

Anderson said he felt honored by the assignment.

“You just try to tell yourself it is one game and you go from there, but certainly one would not downplay that it is a nice thing,” Anderson said. “But Darrell was obviously just as deserving. Darrell and I were OK with it going either way.”

Anderson pitched five seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he knew he had no chance to start the opener because Randy Johnson was the staff ace. Last year he was the Indians’ No. 3 starter coming out of spring training behind left-hander C.C. Sabathia and right-hander Ricardo Rodriguez.

“They wanted to split up the lefties,” Anderson said. “That’s not something you can do here unless you’re going to have a seven-man rotation.”

The Royals’ top four starters to open the season likely will be left-handers. Pena said there was “no question” that Jimmy Gobble, a 22-year-old left-hander, was the leading candidate for the fourth slot in the rotation.

Anderson will start against major-league hitters only once more in spring training. He is to start Wednesday in a minor-league game, then face the San Francisco Giants on March 31.

“It is not ideal, but in between I’ll throw two bullpen sessions,” Anderson said. “I get enough out of my bullpens. I throw hard as I can in my bullpens. I don’t go out at 80 percent.”

Anderson will be the Royals’ third opening-day starter in as many seasons. Jeff Suppan got the assignment in 2002, then Runelvys Hernandez in 2003. Suppan is no longer with the club; Hernandez had elbow surgery last September and is out for the season.