Royals leadoff man Michael Wacha hits a foul ball after the Yankees' first inning

The New York Yankees jumped on the first pitch early in ALDS Game 4. In fact, the hitter who may have made Royals starter Michael Wacha sweat the most so far is on his own team.

After allowing an immediate double and a run-scoring single, Wacha initiated a double play by Aaron Judge and returned to the dugout after a liner by Austin Wells. He probably wished pretty quickly that he hadn't made it back to that shelter at all.

As Michael Massey led off the play against Gerrit Cole, he fired a line drive into the dugout while Wacha sat on the bench and was shielded by several teammates. They didn't help him much; The ball bounced off the back wall and hit Wacha in the neck.

The coaches quickly attended to him and led him through the dugout, but after a quick trip into the tunnel he remained in the game.

Royals starter Michael Wacha practiced with a friendly fire liner after the first inning against the Yankees

Wacha has been Richter's kryptonite throughout the slugger's career, which continued during the struggling presumptive MVP's first plate appearance of Thursday's game. If the Yankees want to make a real statement and not just throw runs on the ball every now and then, they need to finally get Wacha going instead of hassling him for a second every 25 minutes.

In case the Yankees thought Wacha might be shaken by the events at the end of the first, he's clearly a little more unshakable The. Despite a leadoff double by Giancarlo Stanton and a 3-0 count against Jazz Chisholm, the next batter, Wacha emerged from the inning unscathed. Chisholm responded to a borderline call to strike first and then hit wildly over the top of two consecutive exchanges to end his attack and end the rally. After three frames, he had retired six consecutive batters after the double, averting any disaster.

Wacha won't get off so easily, and the Yankees will have to continue to overwhelm him for the rest of the game. Just keep the liners fair.