BOSTON — The first time up, David Ortiz hit a double.

The second time up, Ortiz hit a home run.

The third time up, Ortiz hit a home run.

But what was of just as much significance as the results, if not more so, was the manner in which Ortiz banged out those extra-base hits.

The double came on a fastball that was away from him in his first-inning at-bat. Ortiz went with that pitch from Carlos Villanueva, drilling it with authority into the gap in left-center for a run-producing double.

In the third, Villanueva tried to get inside on Ortiz, maybe figuring he had the big man leaning out over the plate, looking for another pitch on the outer half.

Ortiz, though, reacted beautifully to the 88-mph fastball on the inner half. Villanueva didn’t bury it deep enough in Ortiz’s kitchen, and the Sox’ burly designated hitter pulled the ball into the right-field seats down the line.

In the fifth, right-hander Mark DiFelice, making his big-league debut at the age of 31, tried a few 82-mph sliders on the inner-half of the plate. Ortiz crushed a pair of them foul.

So DiFelice tried to slip a back-door breaking ball over the outside corner on a 2-and-2 count. The pitch caught more of the plate than DiFelice wanted. Ortiz stayed back long enough and launched a two-run homer over the Milwaukee bullpen in right.

Those three hits demonstrated, among other things, that Ortiz had outstanding balance at the plate yesterday, giving him the ability to hammer the ball to different parts of Fenway Park.

Stay in the fast lane

Just because you throw a curve ball and it hangs and gets pummeled doesn’t mean you necessarily need to abandon that pitch for the rest of the game. But you might want to throw fewer than normal, especially when your fastball is working.

Josh Beckett, apparently, didn’t get that memo yesterday, serving up three of his four homers on breaking balls on a day where his fastball had life. Beckett hung a breaking ball to Ryan Braun in the first inning. Braun kept his hands back on the fat 77-mph pitch and lofted it into the Monster seats for a two-run homer.

He didn’t lose confidence in the pitch, though.

The next batter was Prince Fielder. The count went to 2 and 2. Beckett and catcher Jason Varitek went back to the breaking ball. This time Beckett’s curve ball had a little more bite, dipping down just enough and fooling Fielder just enough that the Milwaukee slugger swung and missed it for a strikeout.

And later in the game he uncorked a nasty breaking pitch that whiffed Rickie Weeks.

The rolling breaking ball to Braun, though, was more emblematic of Beckett’s troubles yesterday. He had a sizzling fastball he was able to command decently, but every now and then he’d hang a breaking pitch and pay the price.

That happened to him again in the fourth, when a 1-and-1 breaking pitch to J.J. Hardy had no downward action, hanging up in the strike zone. Hardy crushed it off a canvas sign hanging over the Monster seats in left for a two-run blast.

Then in the sixth, enjoying an 8-4 lead, the pitch selection of Beckett and Varitek was a bit questionable, especially given Beckett’s inconsistency in throwing curve balls. Beckett got ahead of Braun at 1 and 2. The first pitch was a ball, but then he slipped a pair of called strikes past Braun on outside fastballs.

On 1 and 2, he tried another curve ball. He hung it. Braun rocketed the pitch over the Monster in left-center.

Beckett finally seemed to get the message in the seventh. He threw 14 pitches, 13 of which were fastballs. His first pitch was a curve ball for a called strike, then it was simply the old number one in his final inning. He racked two strikeouts in the inning, catching Bill Hall and Tony Gwynn Jr. gazing at nicely located fastballs, boosting his total to nine for the game.

Ellsbury hits speed bump

No one’s perfect. Not even fleet-footed Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury.

He finally was caught trying to steal a base for the first time in his major-league career, gunned down by the Brewers’ Jason Kendall. But it took a pitchout and a perfect throw to snap Ellsbury’s streak at 25 in a row.

Francona pushes right button

With Dustin Pedroia on first base and one out in the first inning, manager Terry Francona had Pedroia running on the 3-and-2 pitch to Ortiz.

The strategy worked. Ortiz laced a shot into left-center, so Pedroia was able to score.

Wayward Lugo gets nabbed

Julio Lugo’s baserunning instincts weren’t the best in the fourth.

The Sox had the bases loaded with one out and the game tied, 4-4. Lugo was on first, having drawn a game-tying walk.

Ellsbury drilled a single to right-center. Two runs scored. Lugo rounded second and thought the throw from right fielder Corey Hart was going to the plate. But the throw had no steam on it. First baseman Prince Fielder cut it off. And Lugo was put out in a rundown.

skrasner@projo.com