Lovullo adjusting, awaiting new bench coach

BOSTON -- As interim manager Torey Lovullo adjusts to the role unexpectedly thrust upon him, the Red Sox are still trying to determine who will replace Lovullo as bench coach for the remainder of the season.

That decision should come soon. For the time being, however, the coaching staff will have to run the ship one man short in the dugout.

"It's something we're talking about right now," Lovullo said before Saturday's 22-10 win over the Mariners. "We've been working through that with [general manager Ben Cherington] and [manager] John [Farrell]. Just throwing some names around. And we certainly want to have somebody on the bench. That is imminent. Who that is at this point, we're not sure, but we're going to try to do that as soon as possible."

Fortunately for Lovullo, Farrell -- scheduled to begin chemotherapy treatment for Stage 1 lymphoma early next week -- has not been far away during this weekend's series against the Mariners. In fact, he and Lovullo were even cracking smiles Saturday morning, jokingly attributing Boston's offensive explosion Friday night to Farrell's absence.

"Any time you get a chance to see a big smile on his face, it makes us all happy," Lovullo said. "He's in his office right now, just being himself and having a good time and just touching base and staying connected to everybody. Feedback was that it took him getting out of the dugout for us to score that many runs [Friday]. He added some humor to that, which we all appreciated in this tough moment."

The coming days also represent a potentially tough transition for Lovullo. But as first stated when news of Farrell's diagnosis broke, he feels well-equipped for the challenge.

"Things have definitely changed for me. Our responsibilities have changed. But everybody here does such a good job preparing me, having me understand what this new role is," Lovullo said. "There's a system in place. We just slot in and do our job in whatever area we're asked. Certainly my day-to-day responsibilities have changed, my dugout responsibilities have changed. As I've been saying, we've all been prepared for these types of moments. We've trained for these types of moments."