BOSTON -- There's a reason they're called interim managers, especially under the circumstances in which Torey Lovullo of the Boston Red Sox finds himself with the job. Reinventing the wheel is out. Hewing to the company line is a given. Discretion counts more than candor, even if credibility might take a hit.

Given those parameters, it was a fool's errand to try to nudge Lovullo toward criticizing Hanley Ramirez, who returned to the Red Sox's lineup after a seven-game absence and once again was found guilty of falsely impersonating an outfielder.

There are six players on the current Red Sox roster who would have caught Lonnie Chisenhall's liner in the fourth inning: Rusney Castillo, Alejandro De Aza, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Brock Holt and Travis Shaw. There is one player who allowed it safe passage over his head, which went into the books as a two-run double but with an asterisk in the minds of the 32,701 fans who bore witness in Fenway Park, and the countless thousands cursing their TV sets at home during Boston's 8-2 loss to Cleveland.

*He should have had it.

Rookie Matt Barnes, making his first big-league start, had already created trouble for himself by giving up a ground-rule double to Michael Brantley, a lined single to Carlos Santana, a bunt single by Abraham Almonte which he couldn't pick up, and a walk to Jan Gomes. But if Ramirez had caught Chisenhall's liner, the damage might have been minimized. Instead, a five-spot.

Four games into the job -- two wins followed now by two losses -- Lovullo was not about to cast aspersions on his left fielder. Before the game, he already had raised a few eyebrows when he said that Ramirez deserved the majority of playing time in left because he has had a "great” season, not the modifier of choice for those who have watched Ramirez's self-immolation at an unfamiliar position, and his sporadic production at the plate.

After the game, Lovullo continued to play better defense than his embattled outfielder. First, he cited Barnes's inability to turn an out on Almonte's bunt as the key play in the inning. The Chisenhall play?

"Hanley is a work in progress," Lovullo said, parroting his questioner. "He has made improvements in the outfield. That was a tough play tonight. As we continue to move forward with Hanley, I think that's a play he'll feel comfortable making. But we have to understand where he's come from and where he's at right now. He's missed a number of games. I think all things being said, it was a tough play."

Except that while Ramirez was nursing a sore left foot, the Sox had been party to exceptional defense from foul pole to foul pole -- Bradley, Betts and, to a lesser degree, Castillo all showing off their glove work.

"We do have three really talented, gifted outfielders," Lovullo said. "But we wanted Hanley in that lineup tonight. He was a guy that was going to potentially change the game for us. That was the decision. Unfortunately it didn't work out."

Ramirez was indeed a game-changer, but not the way envisioned by the man who filled out the lineup card. Perhaps, someone suggested, the layoff had affected Ramirez, a premise that might have offered a hint of validity if Ramirez's shortcomings weren't already so abundantly evident.

"I think there are times when there is a little bit of rust on a guy," Lovullo said. "But Hanley's a pretty special player. He can change the game with one swing of the bat. Whether there was rust offensively or defensively, I know that he's going to continue to improve and move in the right direction."

Ramirez did double in his third at-bat, and walked in his final plate appearance, so all was not lost. He was nowhere to be seen in the Sox's clubhouse afterward, however, so perhaps he wasn't feeling quite as special as Lovullo said he was.