eight innings of an 8–3 win against the Tampa Bay Rays. Indians manager Eric Wedge praised Lee's performance in the game, telling reporters, "He has a tremendous focus out there and on top of that he's a competitor." Lee made a total of nine major-league starts in his rookie season, going 3–3 with a 3.61 ERA while striking out 44 batters in innings. In his 14 minor-league starts, meanwhile, he went 7–1 with a 2.82 ERA. After the MLB season ended in October, Lee underwent surgery in Philadelphia for his sports hernia. While recovering from surgery at the hospital, he met his future teammate Roy Oswalt, who was recovering from a groin injury. Lee began the 2004 MLB season in the Indians' starting rotation, the first time that he had made an opening-day MLB roster. He picked up his first win of the season on April 12, pitching six innings in Cleveland's 6–3 home opener against the Minnesota Twins. Lee began the year with a 5–0 record, taking his first loss of the season on June 3, when he allowed three runs over innings of a 5–2 loss to the Anaheim Angels, raising his ERA from 2.87 to 3.27 in the process. In his next start on June 13, Lee was ejected in the fourth inning after throwing what home plate umpire Matt Hollowell believed was a beanball at Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds. Griffey had hit his 499th career home run off of Lee the inning prior, which Lee said made it "obviously [look] like I was throwing at him" in his next at-bat.. Lee maintained that the pitch was accidental, while Griffey refused to comment on whether or not he believed Lee was intentionally pitching at his head. MLB suspended Lee for six games for the incident, a decision which Lee said he intended to appeal. At the time of the suspension, Lee had been quarantining in the team's hotel out of concern that he contracted chickenpox from his then-two-year-old son Jaxon. On the advice of Wedge, Lee ultimately agreed to drop the appeal of his suspension, as the team had a conveniently placed day off that would allow them to keep their rotation as-is. After starting the season 10–1 in his first 19 games, Lee failed to carry his momentum through the second half of the season, falling into a six-game slump between July 21