Softbank Hawks 's pitcher chief coach and head coordinator, Shinji Kurano, commented on the starting pitchers' approach for the nine-game series that begins on the 18th against Lotte (at ZOZO Marine Stadium) on the 6th.

On this day, pitcher practice was held at Mizuho PayPay Stadium. Coach Kurano spoke to reporters after the practice, saying, "For a nine-game series, we definitely need seven pitchers."

Since the interleague games began on the week of May 26th, the team has played six consecutive games for five weeks, excluding the week after the league resumed. During that time, 11 pitcher started in 31 games: Otsu, Almenta, Stewart, Ozeki, Jun Maeda, Xu, Matsumoto Haru Matsumoto, Maeda Yu, Uwasawa, Nakamura Minoru, and Hokuto. Due to Xu's back injury, Nakamura Minoru, who had started, has returned to reliever role. Not only these 11 pitchers, but also Kamichatani pitched well in the game against Lotte on the 4th (Mizuho PayPay Dome), giving up no runs from the 3rd to 3 1/3rd innings. The right-hander has experience as a starter from his time with DeNA. This season he has been supporting pitcher staff as reliever, but he seems well capable of adapting to the change in role.

Coach Kurano commented, "We are constantly thinking of various strategies." While pitcher management has been impressive so far, they will fight as a united team in order to achieve a major winning streak in the nine-game series.