DETROIT — No more Mr. Strikeout. For one day at least, Austin Jackson
was Mr. Walk-Off Hitting Hero.
It was the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers tied 2-2 with the Red Sox, one out
with pinch runner Danny Worth (Jhonny Peralta single) at third base, Alex Avila
(single) at second and Ramon Santiago (hit by pitch) at first.
Jackson calmly drove the game-winning base hit down the third-base line to
score Worth and set off an Opening Day celebration.
"Just to keep it simple, try to get a ball that I can handle, try not to
expand right there, try to put good wood on a strike and I was able to do
it," Jackson said of his approach.
The key words in Jackson's explanation are "try not to expand right
there."
In the past, Jackson had made the pitchers' jobs easier by expanding his swing
and striking out. In essence, he was doing the pitchers' jobs for them.
But Jackson set to work on his hitting woes before spring training began,
meeting hitting coach Lloyd McClendon before the team's winter caravan in
January. He also arrived early in spring training so he could continue to work
on the changes he made with McClendon.
"He got with Mac before the caravan, shortened his stroke up, got down
there early and worked with him," manager Jim Leyland said. "He
shortened his swing up. He shortened up on the bat once in a while, choked up a
little bit sometimes, two strikes in particular, laying the bat on the ball a
little bit better. He got rid of the big leg kick. He makes us go."
Everyone is expecting huge offensive numbers from the Tigers this season
because they have Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder in the lineup, sandwiched
by Brennan Boesch and Delmon Young. All have massive power and can drive in
runs.
That's where Jackson can come in. The more he's on base, the more those guys
can bring him home.
That also happened before Jackson's ninth-inning heroics, setting up the
late-game drama. After the Tigers had finally taken a 1-0 lead in the seventh
on back-to-back doubles by Peralta and Avila, Jackson led off the eighth with a
triple.
He then scored on Fielder's short sacrifice fly to center field.
"Geno (third base coach Gene Lamont) told me when it was hit that you're
going so I put my head down and just ran hard," Jackson said.
As the fastest player on the team, Jackson is one of the few guys who can make that
kind of plays for the Tigers.
He did a lot of that his rookie season in 2010 when he scored 103 runs while
batting .293. However Jackson also struck out 170 times.
In 2011, he hit only .249 and scored just 90 runs while striking out 181 times.
Although reducing his leg kick and shortening his swing should help Jackson cut
down on the strikeouts, it's not his main focus.
"I'm not worried about that," Jackson said. "I know I'm going to
strike out, it's just part of the game. It's something that I think I'll be
working on throughout my career. I think that if I can continue to work on the
adjustments that I made, then I'll be alright."
Jackson hit .271 in spring training, scoring 15 runs in 25 games. He did strike
out 20 times but he felt he was able to work on the things that McClendon and
he first started in January.
When he first made the adjustment, it felt natural. But there was a point when
he had to fight with it a little bit.
"I had to adjust a little bit towards the middle of spring training,"
Jackson said. "I wouldn't say struggled, but just kind of had some
difficulties with it a little bit and I was able to kind of make that
adjustment. It was kind of good to have that early in spring training so I
could see how to work my way out of it."
At 25, and just entering his third season in the major leagues, Jackson
realizes he's still a work in progress. But as Leyland said, he makes the team
go. He ignites them.
Jackson said he's not putting any extra pressure on himself. He's just trying
to get on base.
"Hitting leadoff, my job is to do my best, whatever that may be, by
getting on base," Jackson said. "I knew that if I could get
comfortable with the adjustments that I made, I could think about having good
at-bats and putting the bat on the ball, then I would be all right up
there."
