five innings of the Phillies' 14–10 victory, a game which saw 31 hits between the two teams, and exited the game with a 14.40 ERA. After throwing 116 pitches against the Cincinnati Reds on May 18, Lee began to complain of elbow soreness, and was diagnosed with a strained pronator teres muscle in his left arm. Lee later said that he had begun to feel pain after throwing a career-high 128 pitches in a game against the Braves that April, but that it had mostly abated before the Reds game. It was the first arm injury of Lee's baseball career, professional or otherwise. He was meant to return to the mound on July 18 after a series of rehabilitation games for the Class A Clearwater Threshers, but manager Ryne Sandberg chose to push Lee's return to July 21, which would give him seven days' rest rather than five. He struggled in this first start back, allowing six runs and a career-tying 12 hits in innings against the Giants. On July 31, Lee left his start against the Washington Nationals in the third inning with a recurrence of the muscle strain. On August 7, the Phillies shut Lee down for the season in the hopes that he would be able to rest the elbow and return in time for spring training the following year. Pitching only innings in 2014, Lee went 4–5 with a 3.65 ERA. It was the first time in six years that Lee had not crossed the 200-inning mark in a season. His elbow continued to bother him after the conclusion of the 2014 season, and he was diagnosed during the offseason with a tear in his left common flexor tendon, a career-threatening injury for a 36-year-old pitcher like Lee. On March 16, 2015, the Phillies placed Lee on the 60-day disabled list, and he returned home to Arkansas for rehabilitation. While doctors recommended surgery for the injury, Lee elected to make a third non-surgical rehabilitation attempt in order to avoid the six to eight-month recovery time that a more intensive procedure would entail. Lee did not pitch professionally at all in 2015, and at the end of the season, the Phillies, who had the option of retaining him for another year at $27.5 million, bought out the remainder of his contract for $12.5 million. Retirement After the 2013 season, Lee had said that he would retire at