Ellsbury's 24th home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth, not only snapped a 5-5 tie, but it broke a deadlock with Adrian Gonzalez for second place in the team home run race, came off a pretty tough left-hander in Boone Logan and was the first of Ellsbury's career to go to the opposite field.
That last characteristic even shocked the man who hit it.
"He threw me two tough sliders that I laid off of to get into a hitter's count, a 3-1 count," Ellsbury said of his encounter with Logan. "Fortunately, I stayed through the ball and drove it over the wall.
"I wasn't expecting that."
The entire at-bat, complete with Ellsbury depositing a 95 mph fastball into the first row of the Monster seats, impressed those on the Boston side of things.
"There's nothing he can't do on the baseball field," Dustin Pedroia said. "We're glad he's on our team because he's a force at the top of the lineup. He's locked in. He laid off two tough pitches to get into that count, and he put a good swing on it. He told me that's the first one he's ever hit oppo. That's huge for him."
David Ortiz had homered earlier in the game, smashing his 28th to give Boston a 4-1 lead. That left Ellsbury and Gonzalez tied for second on the team with 23, but only temporarily.
The Red Sox designated hitter isn't worried yet about losing his lead, although he has yet to shake Ellsbury.
"That's not gonna happen," Ortiz said when asked if Ellsbury would catch him.
Given all that went into Ellsbury's most recent long ball, it's hard to count him out.
