Doug Eddings stopped the St. Louis Cardinals’ sixth inning Friday, told Hancel Rincon to fix his hat and then ejected Oli Marmol in the bottom of the frame during a 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies. The sequence turned a routine at-bat into the kind of umpiring dispute that can swallow the rest of a game.
Marmol said Eddings addressed Rincon in the middle of the at-bat while the rookie was making his major-league debut after being called up from Triple-A Memphis on Sept. 1. The manager said he objected because the game was interrupted over a hat issue that he viewed as unnecessary, and because he believed the umpire was stepping into something that was not his to police.
Eddings halted play with the count 2-0 while Rincon faced Cole Carrigg, and three pitches later Carrigg hit an inside-the-park home run. Connor Norby followed with a single, and Marmol then replaced Rincon with Justin Bruihl after the next batter. Later in the inning, Eddings also called a pitch-clock violation that gave Troy Johnston a 1-0 count to begin his at-bat against Bruihl.
The irritation did not stay on the Cardinals’ bench. Chip Caray and Brad Thompson criticized the hat exchange on the broadcast, with Thompson saying Eddings was telling Rincon to put his hat on straight and that the moment was “a flat-out embarrassment.” Caray said umpires sometimes act like it is their game and their field, but that it is a player’s game.
The broader picture was already messy before the hat dispute. St. Louis had challenged a tag play at third base earlier in the sixth inning on TJ Rumfield’s triple, and Eddings told the crowd in Denver that the call was confirmed and the Cardinals were out of challenges. Then Johnston later scored on a sacrifice bunt by Zac Veen on a play that seemed clear enough that Leo Bernal tagged Johnston, adding another layer to an inning that kept tilting away from calm.
Marmol said he wanted an explanation at some point, and the game finished with the Cardinals still ahead. What remains unanswered is why Eddings decided a hat adjustment needed to become an interruption at all, especially in a rookie debut and in the middle of a one-run game.
