Gerrit Cole dominates until his early exit in the Yankees' win over the Rangers leads to possible injury concerns

ARLINGTON, Texas – For six innings Monday night, Gerrit Cole looked like the ace the Yankees need in the final stretch and into October.

And then came the next injury scare.

While warming up for the remainder of the seventh inning, Cole began to experience problems with his right calf and, after a brief conversation with a trainer and Aaron Boone, he left the game with a cramp in his right calf, the team later announced.

The Yankees said before their 8-4 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field that Cole would be re-evaluated on Tuesday because he may have escaped a more serious injury.

It looked like Cole was trying to stay loose in his dugout early in the seventh inning, but then he left the game in an unceremonious manner with the Yankees leading 7-1.

The reigning AL Cy Young winner, who missed the first two and a half months of the season with nerve inflammation in his elbow, had thrown six strong innings with one run and nine strikeouts before leaving the game.

Cole had thrown just 82 pitches, eight of them in a shutdown at the end of the sixth inning after waiting a long time at the beginning of the sixth inning while the Yankees staged a five-run rally.

Entering the night, the Yankees faced an impending rotation crisis, with Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt expected to return from the injured list this weekend, and if they all remained healthy, it would have forced one of their regulars into the bullpen.

On Monday night, that assumption was suddenly up in the air, but perhaps only for a few innings before the Yankees announced it was a calf cramp.

Cole's early exit overshadowed an otherwise strong evening for the Yankees (80-58), who won only their second game in their last six games and remain half a game ahead of the Orioles in first place in the AL East.

On a night in which eight of the nine members of the starting lineup had at least one hit, the Yankees won the game early in the sixth inning against Rangers starter Jack Leiter (Als Sohn) and reliever Chase Anderson.

Gleyber Torres, who led the way with three hits, opened the outburst with an infield single after a dribble to third base.

Juan Soto followed with a single before Aaron Judge – who had batted in four runs in his last 23 innings – hit an RBI double down the third base line to make it 3-1 and knock Leiter out of the game.

Austin Wells came in next and caught a 95 mph fastball with his right hand/wrist, but stayed in the game after being treated by a trainer. That loaded the bases for Jazz Chisholm Jr., who hit a single to right field for a 4-1 lead.

Anthony Rizzo then hit a perfectly placed slice down the left field line that landed fair and bounced into the seats, resulting in a two-run ground rule double.

Chisholm capped off the scoring by racing into the net after a wild pitch, extending the lead to 7-1.

After the Rangers (65-73) closed to 7-3 in the seventh inning thanks to Wyatt Langford's two-run homer against Luke Weaver, Giancarlo Stanton gave themselves some breathing room with his 25th home run of the season, a solo hit into center field.

Anthony Volpe got the Yankees going in the third inning against his good friend and former Delbarton teammate.

The first pitch he saw from Leiter was a 98 mph fastball through the middle, and Volpe hit it the other way through the right side for a single, which Alex Verdugo followed by getting an infield single.

Torres was next and hit a double into the gap, scoring both runners and giving them a 2-0 lead.

The Rangers were able to get a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Marcus Semien scored from first base on a double to center field by former Yankees talent Josh Smith with two outs.

Judge might have had a chance to get Semien at the plate – or keep him at third base – but he double-clutched his throw and Semien didn't hesitate long on third base to make it 2-1.