Cardinals Support Rincon With Tilted Hats in Photos, Rockies' Goodman Denies Complaining to Ump

Several St. Louis Cardinals players wore their hats tilted to the side as a show of support for rookie pitcher Hancel Rincon ahead of a matchup with the Colorado Rockies on Saturday.

On Friday, home plate umpire Doug Eddings called time to speak to Rincon about straightening his tilted hat in a clash with Colorado. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol then argued with Eddings about the situation before he was later ejected.

During the verbal altercation between Marmol and Eddings, a pitch clock violation was given to Cardinals reliever Justin Bruihl.

Marmol said that he thought Eddings' actions were "embarrassing" after the game, as Rincon was making his MLB debut.

"Quite honestly, I thought it was pretty embarrassing on his end," Marmol told reporters. "We have a kid making his debut, and in-between an at-bat, he tells him he needs to fix the 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 issues with it," he added. "And the pitch violation while I'm out there having the discussion, that's also stupid, in my opinion... at the end of the day, I thought they handled it poorly, and I'd like an explanation at some point."

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Eddings said that the hat tilt was an "unwritten rule" and a Colorado batter pointed out the angle of Rincon's cap before he noticed it.

Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman, who faced Rincon to start the same inning in which the incident occurred, denied complaining about the right-hander's tilted hat.

"I never once mentioned the hat," Goodman said Saturday, per MLB.com's Thomas Harding. "It doesn't matter who's pitching. I don't care how they wear the hat. I'm trying to find out where the ball is coming out, and I'm trying to worry about what I'm doing in the box. I'm not worried about how his hat looks.

"It was one of those situations -- it's kind of a wild, wild thing that happens in the game. But I didn't like seeing that my name was a part of it today when I didn't say anything like that. You watch baseball growing up. There are a lot of guys who have had their hat crooked or however. Honestly, before today, when I went back and looked, I didn't even notice the hat was messed up or looked like that when I was hitting. Anyways, I don't pay attention to that stuff."

As the Cardinals continued their three-game series against the Rockies on Saturday, Rincon's teammates stood behind him.