Cliff Lee said there were no hard feelings after a first inning tumble caused by Diamondbacks’ catcher Chris Snyder. Two innings later, however, home plate umpire Brian Knight ejected Lee for a pitch that sailed over the Snyder’s head, clearing both dugouts on the way to an 11-1 loss at Tucson Electric Park.
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During the first inning, Lee was covering home plate after a single by Arizona batter Chris Young and tripped over Snyder, the on-deck hitter, who was moving to direct base runner Mark Reynolds toward home plate. Lee told Seattle Times reporter Geoff Baker that he had been focused on the ball and didn’t really know how the two got tangled up. He said he didn’t try to hit Snyder in the third inning.
“I was trying to go inside --- I'd been trying to go inside all day and it's been leaking back on the plate I had one more out and one more inning and I was just really making sure I got it in on the righties. The first one was 8-9 inches off the plate and the second one really kind of got away from me. I think I overthrew that one a little bit. But it happens."
Lee had thrown 46 pitches when he was ejected. He went to an adjacent field and threw 15 more pitches to complete his day and to help continue his rehab from foot surgery that had him limited earlier in Spring training.
Reach Galen Helmgren at nextseasonsports@gmail.com
