Fort Myers 3, St. Lucie 0

The rust was evident for Michael Fulmer during the first inning of his debut with St. Lucie on Sunday. But when the right-hander settled in, he flashed the form that made him an appealing prospect with Savannah last year.

Fulmer, who joined the Mets after rehabbing from knee surgery with the organization’s Gulf Coast League affiliate, worked past a shaky 39-pitch opening frame to hold Fort Myers scoreless over his final four innings. However, St. Lucie could not overcome an early deficit and dropped a 3-0 decision to the Miracle in Fulmer’s first start outside the Rookie League in nearly a year.

During the first inning, the Oklahoma native faced every hitter in the Fort Myers lineup and permitted three runs as he was unable to properly locate the strike zone. He allowed three hits, plunked a batter and yielded a four-pitch walk to fall into the early hole before rebounding to provide some encouragement for the rest of the season. Overall, he surrendered five hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts prior to being replaced by Angel Cuan to begin the sixth inning.

Fulmer retired nine straight batters to finish his outing and tossed 81 pitches (52 strikes) in the closely monitored performance at the Advanced-A level, his first since Aug. 19, 2012. His location greatly improved after the first inning as he honed in on the strike zone and reached the mid-90s with his fastball. He also allowed just one runner to reach past first base in that stretch.

Before the game, Fulmer told the team’s radio analyst that his knee feels good after surgery in the spring to repair a torn meniscus, and he is working on the follow-through in his delivery while developing his velocity. The 20-year-old, who notched a 2.74 ERA and 101 strikeouts over 108.1 innings with Savannah last season, owns a quality change-up and slider in addition to his fastball.

Fulmer was saddled with the loss as the St. Lucie (44-39) offense was held in check by Fort Myers starter Matthew Summers. After plating six runs in the series opener Saturday — the team’s highest total in seven games — the Mets managed only two hits and whiffed seven times during Summers’ complete-game effort.

Jayce Boyd, serving as the designated hitter, recorded one of the two singles to extend his latest hitting streak to four games. The 22-year-old clubbed his third home run as a member of St. Lucie on Saturday as part of a 2-for-5 night and is now sporting a .393 batting average.

Dustin Lawley, who has played left field the past five games following a brief stint at third base, registered the only other hit off Summers. He has now tallied a hit in five consecutive games. His solo homer in the series opener moved him to the top of the Florida State League with 17.

Making his second appearance since being bumped to the bullpen last week, Cuan fired two scoreless innings and yielded just one hit with no walks and three strikeouts. The southpaw now has six strikeouts in his 4.2 innings of relief duty.

Mets righty Rainy Lara (2-3, 2.31 ERA) is slated to make his first start since June 30 during the series finale on Monday. In his previous outing, which came at Fort Myers, he allowed three runs (two earned) and and six hits over five innings. Jason Wheeler (7-3, 4.59) will take the hill for the Miracle.

Key Stats

Jayce Boyd: 1-for-4

Dustin Lawley: 1-for-4

Michael Fulmer: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 3 ER, 5 K

Angel Cuan: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 3 K