New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole said he isn’t worried after leaving his game at Texas due to a right calf cramp.
Cole had to leave the mound after his warmup pitches in the seventh inning on Monday night, during the Yankees’ 8-4 win.
“Tried a couple things to get it to stop, and it just didn’t stop. So, didn’t seem like it was going to go away,” Cole said. “I wasn’t super concerned. I just didn’t think it was the right situation to keep trying to manipulate it out there.”
Before his final warmup pitch, Cole lifted his right leg and tried to stretch. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner bent down twice, threw the warmup pitch, then hopped and signaled to the bench. Manager Aaron Boone and sports medicine director Michael Shuck came to the mound.
“Obviously immediate concern. But it looks like it was hopefully just that, some cramping,” Boone said. “He seemed pretty good right now when we came in. So hopefully that’s the case.”
Cole, who turns 34 on Sunday, said he thinks it was just cramping, which he only felt when following through on those warmup pitches. He said he didn’t feel anything when jogging out to the mound before that inning, or while walking and moving around after that.
The Yankees said during the game they would keep an eye on Cole and check his condition again on Tuesday.
He started the season on the 60-day injured list due to nerve irritation and swelling in his throwing elbow during spring training and didn’t make his season debut until June 19.
Cole left the game with the Yankees ahead 7-1. He struck out nine batters and gave up one run in his six innings, throwing 56 of 82 pitches for strikes.
This was his first start in September after going 2-1 with a 1.93 ERA and 31 strikeouts over 28 innings in five August starts. He retired the last nine Texas batters he faced.
