There was no resurgent twinkle in David Ortiz’s eye. No “I’m back!’’ declared to an ebullient clubhouse. In fact, Ortiz left the park before most of his teammates showered.
On what could be Ortiz’s defining night - the potential turning point of a season in which he was dropped in the batting order and benched - there was no sign that anything was different at all.
In the Red Sox’ six-run fourth inning, Ortiz hit a home run to right field and drove in two runs with a hard bases-loaded single through a shift.
“That’s where I normally go when I’m swinging the bat good,’’ he said after the Red Sox’ 8-2 win over the Marlins last night.
Then, hurriedly, he left.
Ortiz now swings a big bat and scurries silently.
“There was some aggression without muscling up,’’ said manager Terry Francona. “There was some bat speed without trying to generate so much bat speed that you use your shoulders.
“He’s using his hands. I think it’s pretty obvious he is starting to feel better about himself and it’s very welcome.’’
There had been reports of Ortiz sulking while he slumped. Not sulking in the distracting way that Manny Ramírez would have - the kind that left the team scrambling for a trade.
Ortiz’s sulk was really just a deep quiet; like a craftsman who could no longer perform his trade, he was the designated hitter who couldn’t hit.
Now Ortiz says he may have figured it out.
“It’s all about timing,’’ he said. “It’s all about doing what I want to do with the bat.’’
But the slump may have left him mentally drained.
“We’ve actually told him, ‘Don’t look at your batting average right now because you’re going to make outs sometimes,’ ’’ Francona said. Ortiz attributes his recent success to extra work.
“It’s just work,’’ Ortiz said. “Just hard work.’’
How breezy it was to pass over this slump. The team is in first place without the help of Ortiz’s big bat. Now Francona’s main task might be getting Ortiz past what he can’t undo.
“He had a couple bad months,’’ Francona said. “Now he’s going to have to live with looking at that batting average being lower than he wants it to be. But he’s got a good thing going.’’
Ortiz, who batted fifth last night, is leaving a return to the third hole up to Francona.
“That question is for Tito,’’ he said.
Because almost all of Ortiz’s talking will be done at the plate, until he says otherwise.
Ben Collins can be reached at bcollins@globe.com 
