St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol was tossed from Friday’s 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies after a tense exchange with home plate umpire Doug Eddings over rookie pitcher Hancel Rincon’s hat during the reliever’s MLB debut.
The dispute started in the sixth inning while Rincon was working against Cole Carrigg. Eddings stopped play to tell Rincon to straighten his hat, and the moment quickly turned messy.
Carrigg later launched an inside-the-park homer during that at-bat, and Rincon was removed one batter later in favor of Justin Bruihl. Things escalated again during the pitching change when Eddings called a pitch-clock violation on Bruihl after Marmol had gone out to argue on Rincon’s behalf.
After the game, Marmol made clear he thought the whole thing was out of line.
"Some words exchanged there. Quite honestly, I thought it was pretty embarrassing on his end," Marmol said postgame after the 7-6 win, according to Steve Berman of The Athletic.
"We have a kid making his debut, and in between an at-bat, he tells him that he needs to fix his hat and, 'The kid's not going to wear his hat like that on my field.' Last I checked, this is Coors Field, so I took issue with it."
Marmol also took aim at the pitch-clock call that followed.
"And then the pitch violation while I'm out there having a discussion, that's also stupid, in my opinion."
Eddings said the Rockies had already raised the issue with Rincon’s cap before he stepped in. According to Owen Perkins of MLB.com, he explained it this way:
"The batter (Hunter Goodman) said, 'Hey, can he wear his hat like that?'" Eddings said, according to Owen Perkins of MLB.com.
"I really didn't know, but it was really, really crooked. I asked the catcher to tell him to straighten his hat out, and the pitcher did.
Nobody said anything until he gave up a couple runs."
The veteran umpire also framed the moment as a matter of major league decorum rather than an actual rule.
"It's not (a rule)," Eddings said. "I guess it's a little unwritten rule.
They can't wear (their cap) backwards like a catcher. If it's a distraction, like anything on the field, like a glove or something, and someone makes you aware of it, then you kind of address that."
Marmol didn’t agree with that explanation.
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