Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton exited New York’s game at Houston on Friday due to right lower leg tightness, but the team is optimistic it isn’t a serious injury.
“Just some tightness in his calf,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after New York beat the Astros 12-4. “Hopefully, we got ahead of it. We’ll just see where he’s at (Saturday).”
Stanton was pulled from the game with no outs in the sixth inning after advancing from second to third on a single by J.C. Escarra off the left field fence.
Stanton slowed up in between the bases and was running gingerly to third base after briefly stopping. He was replaced by Randal Grichuk, who scored on a single by Jose Caballero to give the Yankees a 7-2 lead.
Stanton went 1-for-3 with an RBI single before exiting. He is hitting .256 with three homers and 14 RBIs in 24 games this season.
The 36-year-old veteran endured an extensive injury history in recent seasons. He missed the first 70 games of last season due to inflammation in both elbow tendons.
From 2019 through 2023, Stanton was limited to 391 of 708 games because of injuries to his right biceps, right knee, left hamstring (twice), left quadriceps, right ankle and left Achilles tendon.
A five-time All-Star, Stanton was the National League’s Most Valuable Player for the Miami Marlins in 2017 before joining the Yankees in a trade ahead of the following season. He has a career .258/.345/.527 batting line with 456 home runs and 1,183 RBIs in 1,750 games.
