ARLINGTON, Texas — For six innings Monday night, Gerrit Cole looked like the ace the Yankees need him to be down the stretch and into October.

And then came another injury scare.

As he warmed up for the bottom of the seventh, Cole took issue with his right calf, and after a quick conversation with a trainer and Aaron Boone, he left the game with what the team later announced was a right calf cramp.

The Yankees, before finishing off an 8-4 win over the Rangers at Globe Life Field, said Cole would be reassessed on Tuesday, potentially having dodged something more serious.

Cole had looked like he was trying to stay loose in the dugout in the top of the seventh inning, but then exited the game in unceremonious fashion 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 elbow nerve inflammation, had thrown six strong innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts before leaving the game.

Cole had only thrown 82 pitches, eight of which came in a shutdown bottom of the sixth inning after he had a long wait in the top of the sixth as the Yankees put together a five-run rally.

Coming into the night, the Yankees were staring down an impending rotation crunch with Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt expected to return from the injured list this weekend, which would have forced one of their starters to the bullpen if everyone stayed healthy.

As of Monday night, that was suddenly tossed up in the air, though perhaps only for a few innings before the Yankees disclosed it was a calf cramp.

Cole’s early exit overshadowed what was otherwise a strong night for the Yankees (80-58), who won for only the second time in their last six games to remain a half-game ahead of the Orioles for first place in the AL East.

On a night when eight of the nine members of the starting lineup recorded at least one hit, the Yankees broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning against Rangers starter Jack Leiter (Al’s son) and reliever Chase Anderson.

Gleyber Torres, who led the way with a three-hit night, got the outburst started with an infield single on a dribbler to third base.

Juan Soto followed with a single before Aaron Judge — who had been 4-for his last-23 — ripped an RBI double down the third-base line to make it 3-1 and knock Leiter out of the game.

Austin Wells came up next and took a 95 mph fastball off the right hand/wrist, but stayed in the game after being tended to by a trainer. That loaded the bases for Jazz Chisholm Jr., who roped a single to right field for the 4-1 lead.

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

Chisholm capped off the scoring by racing home on a wild pitch to push the lead to 7-1.

After the Rangers (65-73) pulled within 7-3 on Wyatt Langford’s two-run homer off Luke Weaver in the bottom of the seventh, Giancarlo Stanton created some more breathing room with his 25th home run of the season, a solo shot clobbered to center field.

Anthony Volpe had gotten 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 down the middle and Volpe shot it the other way through the right side for a single, which Alex Verdugo followed by legging out an infield single.

Torres came up next and smoked a double to the gap, scoring both runners for the 2-0 lead.

The Rangers got one run back in the bottom of the inning, when Marcus Semien scored from first on former Yankees prospect Josh Smith’s two-out double to center field.

Judge may have had a chance to nab Semien at the plate — or keep him at third — but he double-clutched on his throw and Semien never hesitated at third to make it 2-1.