Kotaro Kurebayashi of the Orix Buffaloes hits a solo home run in the third inning of a game against the Nippon Ham Fighters at Kyocera Dome Osaka on June 23, 2021. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Pacific League-leading Orix Buffaloes rode solo home runs from rookie Kotaro Kurebayashi, Olympic team member Masataka Yoshida and slugger Yutaro Sugimoto to beat the Nippon Ham Fighters 3-1 on Wednesday and win their 11th consecutive decision.

       The win streak was the franchise's longest since the Hankyu Braves managed the feat in 1984 en route to a PL pennant. The Buffaloes, who finished last in each of the last two seasons, are looking for the franchise's first PL pennant since 1996 when Ichiro Suzuki led the Orix BlueWave to the Japan Series championship.

       Kurebayashi opened the scoring in the third inning at Kyocera Dome Osaka, leading off with his fifth home run, off Fighters starter Takahide Ikeda (3-7).

       Yoshida hit his 13th of the season with two outs in the inning. After Nippon Ham made it 2-1 in the top of the sixth, Sugimoto belted his 15th to complete the scoring.

       Buffaloes lefty Daiki Tajima (4-4) struck out eight over 5-2/3 innings while allowing a run on one walk and six hits. Four relievers finished up, with former major leaguer Yoshihisa Hirano striking out two in a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his ninth save.

       Orix manager Satoshi Nakajima, who began his pro career with Hankyu, said his team was trying not to think about the streak.

       "We're just trying to focus on the one game ahead of us and do our best," he said. "I'll have to ask some of my old teammates what that (1984 streak) was like. It was before my time."

       At MetLife Dome, Masahiro Tanaka (3-4) allowed four runs over six innings but qualified for the win after his Rakuten Eagles teammates came from behind with two runs in the seventh in a 6-4 win over the Seibu Lions.

       At Chiba's Zozo Marine Stadium, the SoftBank Hawks' Nobuhiro Matsuda tied the game with a third-inning home run in a 1-1 tie with the Lotte Marines.

       At Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Naomichi Donoue's two-out three-run double capped a four-run seventh-inning outburst against reliever Shintaro Fujinami (3-2) in the Chunichi Dragons' 6-2 win over the Central League-leading Hanshin Tigers.

       At Toyama Alpen Stadium, Yoshihiro Maru homered twice and drove in three runs powering the Yomiuri Giants to a 4-2 win over the DeNA BayStars. Shun Yamaguchi (1-0) started and won his first game in Japan since moving to the major leagues after the 2019 season.

       At Hiroshima's Mazda Stadium, Jose Osuna's three-run third-inning home run was a big blow for the Yakult Swallows in an 8-5 victory over the Hiroshima Carp.

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