"Jacoby Ellsbury was tired of waiting.

The last time Josh Beckett pitched, the Red Sox waited eight more innings after Beckett's eight innings to score a run in their 1-0 16-inning win against Tampa Bay.

Last night, the Red Sox came up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh not only down one run but also scoreless.

On top of his game this season in a way few players ever get, Ellsbury personally put a stop to the waiting game.

Ellsbury's two-run single with two strikes and two outs in the seventh propelled the Red Sox to a 3-1 victory over the Mariners. The victory — the 1,000th of Terry Francona's regular-season managerial career — was the Red Sox' sixth in eight games coming out of the All-Star break.

No wonder Ellsbury was so pumped to put the Red Sox, and Beckett (9-3), on top.

"It was a big point in the game — we'd been getting runners on and just hadn't got that big hit to push anybody across and Josh had been throwing great and we knew we might only need to get a couple tonight," said Ellsbury. "I was definitely excited."

The Red Sox could not convert two good scoring opportunities early — David Ortiz was pegged at home plate on a throw from center field in the second and Adrian Gonzalez ran into an out at third in the sixth — and Seattle starter Blake Beavan was every bit Beckett's match through the first six innings.

But after Beckett gave up a solo home run to Mike Carp in the top of the seventh, the Red Sox waited until they had two outs to mount their rally. A single by Jason Varitek and ground-rule double from Marco Scutaro set up Ellsbury for his punch up the middle."