The Wei Chuan Dragons last night overpowered the Rakuten Monkeys 6-3 in Game 7 to clinch their first Taiwan Series title since 1999.
The win, secured in front of a raucous home crowd at Tianmu Baseball Stadium, was the Dragons’ first since rejoining the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in 2020, and the franchise’s fifth overall.
The Dragons won the inaugural Taiwan Series in 1990 and three titles from 1997 to 1999.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
Dragons manager Yeh Chun-chang (葉君璋), who played for the team during its first stint in the CPBL, said the victory had left him “speechless,” and he thanked the team’s fans for their support.
Most Valuable Player of the game went to Dragons starter Drew Gagnon, who cruised through six innings, giving three runs (two earned) on five hits, while striking out five with no walks in an 88-pitch outing.
The Taiwan Series Most Valuable Player award went to Dragons Game 6 starter Hsu Jo-hsi (徐若熙), who ensured a key victory that saw the teams tied at 3-3.
In yesterday’s do-or-die Game 7, the Monkeys had a great start in the opening frame with an RBI single from designated hitter Liao Chieh-fu (廖健富) giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Their early one-run margin did not last long after the Dragons batters took advantage of Monkeys starter Jake Dahlberg’s poor control.
The US import threw just 30 pitches, only eight of which were strikes, and was taken out of the game after retiring just two Dragons batters while giving up three runs on five walks and two hits in the bottom of the first.
Reliever Tseng Jen-ho (曾仁和) gave up another two runs, giving the home team a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the first.
The Monkeys managed to mount a comeback and added two more runs in the second frame to close the gap to 5-3.
In the bottom of the eighth, Dragons catcher Chiang Shao-hung’s (蔣少宏) RBI single widened the gap to 6-3.
Closer Jake Brigham was then called to the mound in the top of the ninth to seal the historic victory for the home squad before a full house at Tianmu Baseball Stadium tossed red ribbons to celebrate the long-awaited Taiwan Series title.
The Dragons left the CPBL in 1999 immediately after their last Taiwan Series win amid a series of league-wide match-fixing scandals.
In 2019, negotiations regarding the franchise’s return to the CPBL took place. The team played one season of CPBL minor league baseball in 2020 and rejoined the CPBL major league in 2021.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
RSS