Surprise, Ariz. ? Carlos Rodon struck out nine in four dazzling innings Wednesday night, making his latest impressive bid to join the White Sox rotation, and Chicago cruised to a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals.

Yordano Ventura has been picked to pitch on opening day for the Royals against the White Sox.

The 23-year-old right-hander went 14-10 with a 3.20 earned-run average as a rookie last season and tossed seven scoreless innings to beat San Francisco in Game 6 of the World Series.

The announcement was made by Royals manager Ned Yost on Wednesday. Yost says left-hander Danny Duffy and right-hander Edinson Volquez will follow the hard-throwing Ventura in the rotation.