It's bad enough the White Sox have a 6-11 record against Kansas City this season after Wednesday's 3-0 loss to the Royals.

Here's a statistic that is beyond ludicrous: The Sox are batting .169 (23-for-136) with runners in scoring position against Kansas City pitching this year. That's almost as bad as Adam Dunn's batting average in 2011. Just 23 hits in 17 games. That's a ratio so poor it boggles the mind.

Mind you, this is a Royals pitching staff that ranked 10th in the American League with a 4.28 team ERA entering Wednesday's play. The 1971 Baltimore Orioles they are not, but you would never know it watching the Sox hit against them.

Wednesday's game was another horror show in clutch situations as the Sox finished the night 1-for-11 win runners in scoring position. The most egregious missed opportunity came in the top of the fourth inning when Bruce Chen (11-12) issued back-to-back walks to Dunn and Paul Konerko to start the inning. Alex Rios delivered the only hit with a man in scoring position on the night -- a sharp single to left field to load the bases.

What followed was an absolute disgrace. Dayan Viciedo swung at the second pitch and popped out. Alexei Ramirez swung at the first pitch and popped out. Tyler Flowers struck out looking. Inning over. Might as well have been game over, too.

All this against Chen and his 5.42 ERA. Viciedo and Ramirez should be embarrassed by their at-bats. They exhibited no patience whatsoever against a man who had just walked two hitters to start the inning. You get the feeling Chen could have tossed the rosin bag or one of his shoes up to the plate, and Viciedo and Ramirez would have hacked at it. No discipline, and that's how failure happens in RBI situations.

Meanwhile, Detroit beats Oakland 6-2, so the Sox lead in the American League Central is trimmed to two games. Bad day for the Sox all the way around.