Giancarlo Stanton hit his 25th home run for the 10th time in his big league career, while Gerrit Cole struck out nine batters over six innings before his right calf cramped up. The New York Yankees won against the Texas Rangers 8-4 on Monday night.
Gleyber Torres had three hits for the Yankees, who lead the American League, including a two-run double in the third inning that gave them a lead they never lost.
Anthony Rizzo added a two-run double during a five-run sixth inning after Aaron Judge hit a double for his MLB-best 124th RBI.
Before his last warmup pitch before the seventh inning, Cole (6-3) lifted his right leg to try and stretch. The Yankees’ star pitcher and 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 went to the mound.
Cole said, “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.” He added, “I wasn’t super concerned. I just didn’t think it was the right situation to keep trying to manipulate it out there.”
Cole, who will turn 34 on Sunday, started this season on the 60-day injured list due to nerve irritation and swelling in his throwing elbow during spring training.
He made his season debut on June 19. He mentioned he wasn’t worried because he only felt the cramps when following through on warmup pitches.
Stanton homered to center field to start the eighth inning. He is the only active MLB player with 10 seasons of at least 25 home runs.
Cole praised Stanton, saying, “Remarkably consistent his entire career. … Probably one of the best sluggers of my generation, for sure.”
Stanton said, “It’s pretty cool. You know, something to add to whatever I can come up with in this career, but you know as long it helps us win, that’s what’s most important right now.”
The Yankees (80-58) stayed a half-game ahead of Baltimore in the AL East despite having lost four of their last five games.
With two runners on base and two outs in the ninth inning, Gleyber Torres made a diving stop behind second base on a grounder from Marcus Semien and threw to first base to get the out.
Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo, who were the bottom two batters in the Yankees lineup, each got one-out singles in the third inning. Torres then hit a double to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Rookie right-hander Jack Leiter struck out MLB home run leader Aaron Judge to end the inning, with Judge swinging and missing at an 84 mph curveball.
Leiter (0-2) was taken out of the game after Judge’s RBI double in the sixth inning, which made the score 3-1. That double was the third consecutive hit of the inning. Leiter struck out two batters and was charged with five runs.
Leiter, 24 years old, threw 25 sliders but didn’t get any swings and misses. However, he pitched into the sixth inning for the first time in five big league starts.
Leiter said, “I felt good about my stuff. I felt like execution-wise, that’s the best it’s been, at least up here so far this year.”
He added, “So then it becomes a conversation of, you know, managing lineups a little better and maybe pitch selection here or there.”
Volpe and Leiter were high school teammates and won a state championship in 2019 at Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey.
Both were first-round draft picks, with Volpe chosen by the Yankees that year and Leiter selected by Texas second overall in 2021 after attending Vanderbilt.
Leiter’s father, Al, played for the Yankees during his first three big league seasons (1987-89) and his last season (2005). His cousin, Mark Leiter Jr., is a Yankees reliever.
The Yankees were leading 7-1 when Cole left the game. Luke Weaver took over and immediately allowed a single to Josh Jung and a homer to Wyatt Langford.
