Jack O'Dowd makes loud High-A debut; Spokane Indians down Vancouver 9-4 | NWL baseball
May 21-Can a player achieve legendary status from just one game? If that's possible, Jack O'Dowd will always have a place of glory in the annals of Spokane Indians lore.
O'Dowd, in his first game with the club, hit two home runs, knocked in four and scored three leading the Indians over the Vancouver Canadians 9-4 in a High-A Northwest League game at Avista Stadium on Thursday.
The Indians (17-25) have taken two of the first three of a six-game set from the Canadians (17-25).
"I think I may have (hit two homers in a game) last year. But yeah, not many times," O'Dowd said. "It almost felt like opening day all over again, which is a good feeling."
O'Dowd is the son of Dan O'Dowd, former big league executive with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians and Colorado Rockies. O'Dowd is best known as the Rockies GM who oversaw the development of key players such as Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, Jeff Francis, and Ubaldo Jiménez, and the Rockies remarkable World Series run in 2007 before losing to the Boston Red Sox.
Jack O'Dowd, a catcher by trade, played at Vanderbilt and University of Texas but went undrafted out of college. He spent a record-setting season with Billings of the independent Pioneer League last year when he hit 22 homers with 91 RBIs, both single-season club records.
"I learned a lot over the course of my college career, and last year kind of gave me an opportunity to go out there and really just, you know, find an identity away from the game of baseball," O'Dowd said. "It kind of freed me up on the field, and then my swing got better, and I think it just put me in a position to just show up every day and be more consistent."
O'Dowd was signed by the Rockies organization during the offseason. He was hitting .333/.375/.679 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 22 games at Fresno upon his promotion.
O'Dowd clobbered a solo home run in his first High-A at-bat in the second inning to give the Indians an early lead. They made it 3-0 in the third. Jacob Hinderleider singled, stole second and went to third on a flyout. Tommy Hopfe followed with a long homer off the scoreboard in right center for his third of the season.
But they weren't done. Kevin Fitzer reached on an error and Jacob Humphrey walked, then with two down O'Dowd crushed a 1-2 fastball deep onto the porch in right field for his second homer of the game and a 6-0 lead.
"I was just swinging at the right pitches overall, and I think that I was on time for for the pitches in my zone," O'Dowd said. "And I didn't miss them when I got there."
Indians starting pitcher Everett Catlett ran into the wall in the fourth. He gave up a pair of singles between a pair of strikeouts, then walked the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters to force in a run, and manager Tom Sutaris came out with the hook after 88 pitches.
Nathan Blasick entered and got leadoff hitter Peyton Williams to ground out to end the threat. Catlett allowed one run on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
Spokane tacked on three runs in the fifth inning, with Hinderleider delivering a bases loaded, two-run single.
The C's finally broke through against reliever Justin Loer in the seventh, when Jacob Sharp hit a three-run home run off the videoboard in left center, his fourth of the season, to make it 9-4.
But Fisher Jameson provided 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to put it away.
The series continues Friday at 6:35 p.m.
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