During the St. Louis Cardinals’ 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday, September 4, plate umpire Doug Eddings sent off Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.
Cardinals manager Marmol explained the on-field controversy in the Cardinals’ broadcast, saying, “Some words exchanged there. Quite honestly, I thought it was pretty embarrassing on his end.”
“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 added.
The player making his debut in MLB was reliever Hancel Rincon, who got promoted from Triple-A Memphis on September 1.
As Rincon pitched to Cole Carrigg in the sixth inning, Eddings stopped the play with the count 2-0 and waved to the Cardinals catcher Leo Bernal, and Rincon tugged at his cap.
“The batter (Rookie catcher Hunter Goodman) said, ‘Hey, can he wear his hat like that?’” Home umpire Eddings recalled after the game.
Adding, “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. No body said anything until he gave up a couple runs.”
However, Rincon maintained that the comment didn’t distract him from his debut and that he didn’t go into arguments with Eddings about his comment.
“I had no idea why he told me to do it,” Rincon said via an interpreter, “It’s fine.”
Marmol didn’t stop engaging with Eddings after the pitching change, which cost a pitch clock violation for Bruihi and, ultimately, an ejection for Marmol, his fourth of the season.
The Cardinals trailed until the ninth inning, when Iván Herrera made the most of a throwing error and smashed a 430-foot homer to centre, sealing a 7-6 win.
