TORONTO -- Ben Cherington can never lend voice to such a thought, of course. But with the Red Sox general manager on the premises here Monday night, you wonder if he allowed himself to contemplate how different this season might look if his left fielder had played with the same intensity at bat, on the basepaths, and most importantly, in the field as Alejandro De Aza did Monday night.

For all the home runs Hanley Ramirez has hit so far and will continue to hit when he returns from his left wrist injury, they have not, and cannot, compensate for the absence of aptitude he has demonstrated for playing the outfield. The blame for that is only partly his to own. The Red Sox are the ones who bet $88 million he could make the transition, and it is no easy thing to risk embarrassment at a new position when you have been a shortstop your entire life.

But there was no disputing the easy conclusion to be drawn from Monday night’s game: The outcome would have been far different if Ramirez, and not the veteran outfielder De Aza, had been playing left field against the Blue Jays in Boston’s 3-1 win.

Since his arrival from the Baltimore Orioles earlier this month after the Sox executed a trade for a player the Orioles had designated for assignment, De Aza has played the game at hyperspeed.

“That’s the De Aza way,’’ he said Monday night. “That’s the way I like to play the game. I don’t like to be lazy.’’

Early on, he almost came across as too aggressive, especially the afternoon the Sox played the Jays in a blinding sun and De Aza called off Xander Bogaerts on a pop fly that Bogaerts was camped under, only to discover to his horror that the ball was going to fall out of his reach.

But more typical of De Aza's play was what he did Monday night to provide the underpinnings for Clay Buchholz's eight innings of brilliance. In the second inning, De Aza hustled after Kevin Pillar’s double to the wall, whirled and made a perfect relay to Bogaerts, and was rewarded for his effort when Russell Martin was trapped off third by Pablo Sandoval.

In the sixth inning, with one run in and the Jays threatening to add more, De Aza set off in pursuit of Jose Bautista’s drive to the gap in left-center. And after running halfway to Missasauga, De Aza made an over-the-head catch to end the inning.

“I saw the ball, I honestly didn’t know if I could catch it,’’ De Aza said. “But I just put my head down and kept running. I never gave up, and at the last second I saw it right next to me.’’

Then, after closer Koji Uehara replaced Buchholz in the ninth, De Aza set off on another full sprint, this time toward the left-field foul line to overtake Josh Donaldson’s bid for a bloop hit.

Ramirez would not have made any of those three plays.

De Aza has been productive at the plate, too, in Ramirez’s absence, hitting three home runs in Boston's past four games. Then on Monday night, he lined a single, was thrown out trying to stretch another single into a double, and tripled in his last at-bat, beating the throw with a head-first slide.

“He’s a good player, man,’’ David Ortiz said of the 31-year-old De Aza, who was an everyday outfielder for the White Sox for three seasons, then was traded to Baltimore, where he played in the postseason last October and was the team’s Opening Day left fielder until a slow start (.214/.277/.359 slash line in 112 plate appearances) led the Orioles to drop him.

“He just needs to learn how to stay consistent,’’ Ortiz said. “Once he figures that out, game over. That’s something we talk about all the time.

“When you have that kind of speed and ability to hit like he does, you’ve got to use it. You’ve got to use those tools. I got one tool: I gotta hit. He can hit and he can run and his defense is extraordinary. That’s why you have to work on being consistent, because if you’re consistent, there’s no way you’re going to be out of a job.’’

That consistency, Ortiz said, has proven elusive.

“He’s had a problem figuring out how to get out of a funk sometimes,’’ Ortiz said. “I don’t know why [the Orioles] gave up so fast. He’s a good guy, a good player. He works hard, he wants to do something every day to help a ballclub win games. Teams just have to have patience with him.’’

Ramirez returned to the team Monday night in Toronto after having gone to Boston for an MRI on his left wrist that came back clean, showing no structural damage. Red Sox manager John Farrell said he hoped Ramirez would be able to start taking swings immediately and noted a best-case scenario of Ramirez returning to the lineup before the team leaves here after Thursday night’s game.

De Aza could wind up in right field, especially with Brock Holt filling in to play second base while Dustin Pedroia is on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring. But Shane Victorino is working his way back on a rehab assignment, and while the Sox have options left on Jackie Bradley Jr. and could send him back to Pawtucket, it is an open question how much De Aza will play.

But there’s no question he’s the type of player who can help.

“I’m taking this day by day,’’ he said. “I’ll be ready all the time I’m here.’’