Jenrry Mejia is happy to just pitch.

But he is most comfortable starting.

And it showed Monday night.

The 20-year-old top-rated prospect in the New York Mets organization made his Triple-A debut with the Buffalo Bisons in front of 8,808 at Coca-Cola Field, striking out nine while giving up five hits and one run in eight innings against the Syracuse Chiefs.

He took a no-decision as the Chiefs went on to win, 4-1, in 10 innings and deal another blow to the wild-card playoff chances of the Bisons. Buffalo fell 3 1/2 games behind Columbus in the battle for the last International League postseason berth.

After making the opening day roster of the New York Mets, Mejia spent the first part of the season as a reliever, going 0-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 30 appearances.

The Mets sent him back to the minor leagues to return him back to a starting pitcher role. After being sidelined a month with a shoulder injury, he was impressive in Double-A Binghamton and was promoted to Buffalo this week.

"I feel much more comfortable as a starter," said Mejia. "When I'm a reliever, sometimes they call me and I only threw my fastball. Now I can throw the curve, change and fastball."

Monday, the the righty from the Dominican Republic was impressive for a good portion of the game, throwing consistently in the mid-90s. He dominated the first four innings, retiring the first 13 hitters he faced including a string of six strikeouts. The two hitters he did not strike out in the first three innings, he retired himself by fielding ground balls for easy outs at first base.

Syracuse didn't have a baserunner until the fifth inning -- when Mejia hit Chase Lambin with a pitch. The Chiefs solved the Mejia puzzle in the sixth, when Michael Martinez hit a one-out home run to center to tie the game, 1-1. The Chiefs had five hits off Mejia, but he was able to pitch out of jams to keep the game knotted.

"He had electric stuff. Everything he threw moved," said Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell. "You saw 96 [mph] with movement. He gave us exactly what we needed. ... His velocity [in later innings] might have gone down a bit, but that's normal when you're throwing seven or eight innings. But he threw strikes. They made some adjustments and put balls in play but when he needed to make a pitch to get out of trouble he did."

Mike Cervenak gave the Herd a 1-0 lead with his eighth home run of the season in the second inning. It was all the Bisons would get.

The Chiefs scored three in the 10th -- two on a double by Martinez and one on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Maldonado.

The series concludes tonight (7:05 p.m., Radio 1520 AM) with righty Fernando Nieve (2-0, 5.40) scheduled for the Herd against righty Erik Arnesen (8-7, 4.18).

amoritz@buffnews.comnull