The team just can’t get any hotter than this. They had a seven-game winning streak snapped last week on Friday against the Carp, but then proceeded to walk all over their opponents. A sweep at Meiji Jingu Stadium brought the team home on a five-game winning streak to host the Yomiuri Giants, who were heating up themselves (they came into this weekend having won 7 of their previous 8 games). But our pitching was simply too much for them. Takuma Kirishiki made his 2023 debut on Friday and kept them to a minimum, Koutaro Ohtake continued his hot start in collecting his sixth win of the year, and Hiroto Saiki proved that last week’s successful return to the top squad was no fluke. And the bats continued to come through when needed. Despite just one home run all weekend (from Johan Mieses on Sunday), they put up enough runs to keep the winning ways going. We head to interleague play with a six-game lead over the second-place Baystars. Bring on the Pacific League!
