When the Red Sox signed Cody Ross to a one-year, $3 million contract as a free agent this winter, the logic seemed glaring. Ross has what most view as a made-for-Fenway swing, a right-handed hitter who tends to launch crowd-scrapers to left.

But the opposite field? That qualifies as foreign territory for Ross, as evidenced by the fact that he’d hit just two balls to right (one to the warning track on Opening Day against Justin Verlander, another on April 18 against Derek Holland and the Rangers) in 56 plate appearances entering Monday.

That made the manner of Ross’ game-winning homer somewhat stunning. In a 5-5 game in the top of the ninth, Ross saw a 92 mph fastball with a bit of tail from Twins closer Matt Capps. Ross unloaded on it, and it sailed over the fence in straightaway right for a home run. That blast – Ross’ second of the game – proved decisive in the Red Sox’ 6-5 win.

After the victory, the question for Ross was obvious: When was the last time the notorious pull hitter went deep to right?

“I can’t remember,” Ross told reporters after clubbing his team-high fourth and fifth homers of the year, his 2-for-4 night having improved his average to .283 with an OPS of .973.

(For the record, his last opposite field homer came last Sept. 16 when he homered to right-center in Colorado. His last launch to straightway right came on Sept. 26, 2010, also in Colorado. In his career, he entered yesterday with five homers to right and four more to right-center.)

But while an oppo shot is a rarity for Ross, he actually stepped to the plate looking to drive the ball to right field. He had faced Capps seven times in his career, and knew that the Twins closer tends to reside on the outer half of the plate.

“I was just looking for a pitch out over the plate, just trying to drive it the other way,” Ross told reporters. “I’ve faced Capps quite a bit. He comes right at you. He doesn’t give in. He lives out there, so you just try to drive it and fortunately it ended up in the air.”

The ability to look to drive a ball away is a rarely witnessed part of Ross’ skill set, but that doesn’t mean it’s an insignificant one. Indeed, Ross suggests that learning how to become an all-fields hitter was the most important aspect of his evolution as a hitter.

Ross entered pro ball after being taken by the Tigers in the fourth round of the 1999 draft. At that time, he recalled earlier this month, “I was even more of a pull hitter than I am now. Everything I hit, I was hooking it, just like high school. You can because guys throw so soft that you wait and hook the ball down the line for homers. When I got to pro ball, I really didn’t know how to hit. I was just getting up there and wailing at pitches.”

It was an approach that Tommie Reynolds, the Tigers’ hitting coordinator at the time, felt needed some refinement, particularly given that the outfielder’s pro debut featured a period of struggle. Playing in the Rookie Level Gulf Coast League in 1999, Ross hit just .218 with a .304 OBP, .706 OPS and four homers in 42 games.

Reynolds tried to sell the young prospect on the merits of using the whole field. Ross initially resisted.

“[Reynolds] was trying to get me to hit the ball the other way. I remember calling my dad, telling him, ‘This guy is trying to turn me into a Punch and Judy hitter. I don’t like it at all,’” Ross said. “But it really ended up being the best thing for me. It taught me how to stay on the ball and drive it the other way, and that you can hit homers the other way. It turned me into the player that I became.”

Eventually, Ross dropped his resistance, embraced the idea that he could drive the ball to all fields and, even though he typically pulled the ball, he became a more disciplined hitter. More than a decade later, he remains armed with the confidence that he can do damage to pitches while going to the opposite field, something that became apparent on Monday night, when his line drive to straightaway right simply kept carrying just into the grandstand seats that overhang the right field wall.

The eighth multi-homer game of Ross’ career continued a stretch in which he has been doing plenty of damage for the Sox. After beginning his Boston career in a state of some struggle, hitting just .182 with a .497 OPS through his first seven games, Ross has since been driving the ball with regularity.

In his last eight games, he is 11-for-31 (.355) with five homers, 12 RBI, a .412 OBP and a .903 OPS. He is doing damage from the lower half of the order, helping to ensure that the Sox lineup does not become too top-heavy.

The stretch has also helped to ease the transition for the outfielder to his new club. Though Ross has a career track record that made him a known quantity to the Sox, he still recognized that it was important to perform for his new club. That being the case, Ross felt it important to hit the ground running in spring training, where he led the club with six homers and 16 RBI while hitting .370 with a  1.257 OPS.

“You still have to prove yourself. Even at 31 years old, I feel like I have to prove myself to this organization that I’m still a good player and can still perform at a really high level,” said Ross. “I’m sure the same is true for Prince [Fielder] or [Albert] Pujols or anybody.

“It’s important to get off to an early start, obviously more in April than March. Coming in, swinging the bat well in spring, showing that I’m not here to mess around – I can still play and I’m ready to roll, that sort of mentality is definitely how you want to come across. Hopefully I can continue that through April and through the rest of the season.”

On that front, Ross is certainly off to a good start, thanks in no small part to the fact that he made use of a rarely seen but important skill that he picked up many years ago.