Yankees seem optimistic about Gerrit Cole's calf cramp

ARLINGTON, Texas — Gerrit Cole already has missed far too much of the 2024 season for his team’s liking.

The Yankees — not to mention their fans — could only hold their breath Monday night hoping the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner won’t be missing more of it.

Cole, who cruised through the first six innings of an 8-4 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field, suddenly left the game during his warmup before the top of the seventh with what the club later called a “right calf cramp.”

Early indications afterward were that Cole and the team had dodged the proverbial bullet.

“I wasn’t super-concerned,” Cole said. “I just didn’t think it was the right situation to keep trying to manipulate it out there . . . I jogged out there, didn’t feel it; don’t feel it walking or moving around or anything.”

After a warmup pitch to Jose Trevino, Cole grabbed at his calf area, squatting multiple times in an attempt to loosen it up. After a brief discussion on the mound that included manager Aaron Boone and trainer Mike Schuk, Cole walked to the dugout.

“Tried a couple of things to get it to stop, and it just didn’t stop,” said Cole, who allowed one run, four hits and a walk in six innings in which he struck out nine. “Didn’t seem like it was going to go away.”

Cole, who started the season on the injured list with elbow inflammation, is 6-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 13 starts. He went 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA in five August starts.

“Thought his fastball was really good, cutter was good tonight, spun the ball well,” Boone said. “I thought his stuff was really good, starting with the heater.”

Of the cramping that forced Cole’s exit, Boone said: “Obviously, concerned [at the time], but looks like it was hopefully just that, some cramping. He seemed pretty good right now when we came in [to the clubhouse], so hopefully that’s the case.”

Cole was replaced by Luke Weaver, who allowed a single by Josh Jung and a two-run homer by Wyatt Langford to make it 7-3.

Giancarlo Stanton’s 25th homer, a 418-foot solo shot to center in the eighth, gave the Yankees an 8-3 lead. He has hit at least 25 in 10 seasons, the most among active major-leaguers (Mike Trout is next with nine).

The Rangers’ Jack Leiter (0-2, 11.78) — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft out of Delbarton High School in New Jersey — left trailing 3-1 and ultimately was charged with five runs in five innings-plus in his fifth career start.

Leiter, the son of former Yankees and Mets pitcher Al Leiter (who was in attendance) and a cousin of current Yankees reliever Mark Leiter Jr., allowed a hard single to right by former Delbarton teammate Anthony Volpe on his first pitch to him in the third. After Leiter retired Volpe on a 373-foot fly ball that drove Langford to the leftfield wall in the fifth, the two exchanged smiles as Volpe ran past the mound.

The AL East-leading Yankees (80-58), who stayed a half-game ahead of the Orioles, got on the board in the third on a two-run double by Gleyber Torres, who had three hits and continues to thrive in the leadoff spot.

“I try to get a really good at-bat, see a couple more pitches than normal,” said Torres, who is 16-for-49 (.327) in his last 12 games, all from the leadoff spot.

The Yankees scored five runs in the sixth, an inning highlighted by Aaron Judge’s RBI double, Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s RBI single and Anthony Rizzo’s two-run ground-rule double to left.

Austin Wells reached base during the inning when he took a 95-mph fastball off his right hand, which sent him to his knees in pain. Wells stayed in the game, something Cole did not, but all appeared OK on both fronts late Monday night.

“I was a little concerned about Austin there,” Boone said. “But I thought he got some good swings off after that . . . Kind of see what we’ve got overnight, but hopefully all of it’s just minor things.”