HOUSTON — The all-too-familiar sight the Yankees had avoided through the first month of the season finally arrived Friday night.

Giancarlo Stanton was forced to leave a 12-4 win over the Astros early after feeling right calf tightness on a trip around the bases in the sixth inning at Daikin Park.

The 36-year-old designated hitter has a history of soft-tissue injuries in his legs that have cost him time on the injured list over the years, though the Yankees did not yet know as of Friday night whether this was something that would land him back on the IL.

“Hopefully we got ahead of anything serious,” manager Aaron Boone said. “So we’ll see where he’s at [Saturday].”

Stanton was not scheduled to undergo any tests, though that was subject to change.

The Yankees are the last team left to not place a player on the injured list during the regular season, but it remains to be seen whether this will change that run of good health.

It was not completely clear when Stanton first started feeling the tightness. He had roped an RBI single earlier in the sixth inning, then advanced to second on a walk. At some point while he was on second, according to Boone, Stanton motioned toward the dugout, but they did not know what it was about.

J.C. Escarra then hit a bullet off the left field wall, and after stopping and starting to make sure it was not caught, Stanton gingerly jogged to third and made no attempt to score.

“I don’t think he wanted to push it,” Boone said.

Boone and a trainer jogged out to check on Stanton and after a quick conversation, he walked off the field and was replaced by pinch runner Randal Grichuk.

“Hopefully it’s nothing serious,” Will Warren said. “We need him in the lineup, so hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’s back in there soon.”

Through 24 games this season, Stanton was batting .256 with a .724 OPS and three home runs. The Yankees have given him regular days off in an attempt to keep him healthy, while he is still playing through the pain of tennis elbow in both arms.

If Stanton is forced to go on the IL, the Yankees could call up Jasson Domínguez, at least until Anthony Volpe returns from the injured list at some point next week.

But inside the clubhouse, they were hoping it would not come to that.

“I think he just got a little tight and you don’t want to risk it with that guy,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “He hits 30 home runs in 60-70 games in a year, every year. So we need that bat in our lineup.”