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.
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