New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (calves), Anthony Rizzo (back) sit out vs. Boston Red Sox

The New York Yankees opened their first series of the season at Fenway Park without two of their biggest bats in the starting lineup: All-Star outfielder Aaron Judge and slugging first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

Judge did not start Thursday night in the team's 6-5 win over the Boston Red Sox due to what manager Aaron Boone described as "lower body stiffness."

"The last couple of nights [he's] just been dealing with some tightness in his lower half, so just felt like today was the day that I needed to have him down.

The idea is for him to be back in there tomorrow, but [it's] not something I'm overly concerned about," Boone said. "But, more importantly, just want to be something that we get out ahead of and make sure that it doesn't turn into something big.

He's been able to kind of navigate through these last couple of days but, especially getting in as late as we did last night, just not something I want to mess with right now."

Asked to further elaborate on what Judge was feeling, Boone described it as "just calves."

"Just gets a little heavy and tight more than anything. Just something that I don't want to mess with, especially where we are in the season, I don't want to become a larger issue so hopefully something we'll get out ahead of a little bit," he said.

Judge's comments after the game echoed what Boone said earlier in the day. "It's just precautionary stuff; been feeling it for a week or so," he said. "Just taking the chance to take a day and make sure everything's all right; make sure it's nothing more than one day so we can keep rolling."

Judge expressed confidence he would be back in the lineup Friday in Boston.

"We talked about it a couple of days ago and just kind of tried to map it out," he said. "Kind of figured out what would be the best time and place, and today worked out. And now it's time to get back to work."

The Yankees, who are toward the end of a four-city, 11-day, 10-game road trip, had a late-night arrival in Boston after a lopsided 16-0 win over the Pirates on Wednesday night, a game that was delayed for over an hour by inclement weather. The Yankees split the two-game series in Pittsburgh, with Rizzo out of the lineup for both matchups due to "lower back stiffness."