PORT ST. LUCIE – For the third consecutive game in the series the St. Lucie Mets jumped out to an early lead against the Fort Myers Miracle, but unlike the previous two games Sunday’s deficit for the Miracle was too much for a comeback and lost 9-3 in the series finale.

Fort Myers was down 3-0 Friday and eventually won 5-3 on a ninth-inning rally. They also won 8-7 Saturday after trailing 4-1 early. The Mets (9-14) had 12 hits Sunday, including six for extra-bases against the Miracle (9-14) pitching staff, taking a 7-0 lead after four innings.

Miracle starting pitcher Brad Tippet (0-2) got off to a rough start in a long four-run first inning. After a leadoff walk to Emmanuel Garcia, the Mets got an RBI triple from Reese Havens to go up 1-0 before an RBI double by Eric Campbell gave them a 2-0 lead. Sean Ratliff followed by hitting a line drive to right fielder Mike Harrington, who tried to make a sliding catch, but the ball skipped over his head all the way to wall, allowing Ratliff to score on the inside-the-park home run putting St. Lucie up 4-0.

Tippett lasted only three innings, allowing two more earned runs in the third inning as he picked up his second loss of the year.Tony Davis entered in the fourth inning for the Miracle and after giving up a run on a sacrifice fly, putting the Mets up 7-0, he settled down to retire the next six batters. Davis pitched three innings overall, working himself out of a jam in the sixth inning to leave two Mets in scoring position, allowing just the fourth-inning run.

Mets starter Scott Moviel was dominant through the first five innings, allowing two base runners. In the first inning, Nick Romero picked up a one-out single and Yangervis Solarte following with a walk, but Deibinson Romero hit into an inning-ending double play to end the threat.

Moviel retired the next 12 batters in order until the Miracle scored three runs in the sixth. Nate Hanson got things started with a single to left and Jhonathan Goncalves and Drew Thompson tagged back-to-back singles to load the bases for Nick Romero, who grounded out to third baseman Eric Campbell for the first out, scoring the first Miracle run of the day.

Yangervis Solarte then reached on an error to reload the bases with one out for Romero, who hit a sacrifice-fly to score Thompson. Chris Herrmann capped off the inning with a two-out single to score Romero, making the score 7-3.

Moviel (1-2), who was pulled after the sixth, picked up his first win of the year allowing only five hits and three runs to the Miracle.

Fort Myers had a big scoring opportunity in the seventh, but couldn’t convert against St. Lucie reliever Elvin Ramirez. After a two-out base hit by Goncalves, and then consecutive walks to Thompson and Romero, Ramirez got out of the jam getting Solarte to fly out and leave the bases loaded.

Blake Martin entered in the seventh and after picking up two quick outs a fielding error by Solarte allowed the inning to continue. Raul Reyes made the Miracle pay for their only error of the game blasting a two-run home run to put the Mets up 9-3.

The Miracle finished their six-game road swing with a 4-2 record, taking two of three from both the Mets and the Hammerheads. Sunday’s loss snapped the Miracle’s four-game winning streak.

The Miracle return home to host Jupiter for three starting Monday and then three with St. Lucie. First pitch Monday is 7:05 p.m. with Bruce Pugh (1-3) taking the hill.