YOKOHAMA, Japan (Interstat) — The Yomiuri Giants and Yokohama BayStars meet Sunday evening at Yokohama Stadium, with the visitors holding a slim edge in the season series but the home team looking to even the score under partly cloudy skies and 82-degree heat.

Yomiuri (41-36-2) enters the 6 p.m. contest after a 5-4 victory Saturday over the BayStars, its second win in the past three meetings. The Giants have won seven of the last 10 matchups dating to April 25. Yokohama (33-44-3) has dropped two of its last three overall and sits in fifth place in the Central League.

Right-hander Kazuyuki Takemaru is slated to start for Yomiuri. In his most recent outing Saturday against the same Yokohama lineup, Takemaru pitched six innings, allowing five hits and four earned runs while striking out five in the 5-4 win. He also went 0-for-2 at the plate. Over his past three starts — two against Chunichi and one versus Yokohama — Takemaru has a 4.24 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 17 innings, though he has struggled with run support, earning a loss June 19 despite allowing three earned runs in five innings.

Takemaru will have to contend with Yokohama’s Jerar Encarnacion, who has been the BayStars’ most consistent offensive threat. The right fielder homered and drove in three runs Saturday, going 1-for-4. Over his last seven games, Encarnacion is batting .346 (9-for-26) with one home run and 12 RBIs, including a 4-for-5, three-RBI performance July 5 at Yakult. He has hits in six of his last eight contests.

Yokohama’s bullpen, which allowed two earned runs in four innings Saturday, will need to contain a Giants lineup that scored five runs on eight hits in that game. Catcher Takumi Ohshiro went 2-for-3 with an RBI for Yomiuri.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 5-3 Yokohama victory, and its ELO system gives the BayStars a 51.6% probability of winning.

After Sunday’s game, Yomiuri travels to Tokyo Yakult for a three-game series starting Tuesday, while Yokohama visits Hiroshima for three games beginning the same day.