Gagnon started Game 7 of the 2023 Taiwan Series at Tienmu Stadium in Taipei, Taiwan, on the 12th and led Wei Quan to a 6-3 victory with six innings, five hits, five strikeouts and three runs two earned against Rakuten Monkeys. 스포츠토토핫
Gagnon, who struggled with five hits, two walks, six strikeouts and four runs in five innings in Game 3 on the 7th, became the winning pitcher in the most important Game 7 and led Wei Quan to victory. Brigham, who came up as a finishing pitcher in the ninth inning with a 6-3 lead, then won a save with one scoreless inning.
Wei Quan, led by head coach Ye Jun-jang, was in a inferior position after losing the second to third games after winning the first game. He grabbed Game 4 and balanced 2 wins and 2 losses, but lost Game 5 0-11 and was on the brink of a cliff. However, after winning 2-0 in Game 6, he grabbed Game 7 and won the game four wins and three losses.
Wei Quan won the Taiwan Series for the fifth time in the club’s history, following 1990, 1997, 1998, and 1999. It enjoyed its heyday by winning the championship for three consecutive years from 1997 to 1999, but suffered the misfortune of being disbanded due to financial difficulties of its parent company.
However, he decided to re-establish himself in 2019, participated in the second division game in 2020, and re-entered the first division as a new team in 2021. In 2021, he was last in the league in fifth place, but he advanced to the playoffs last year, and this year, he won the Taiwan Series and returned to the top in the third season of the re-foundation.
At the center of it are players from the KBO League. Gagnon, who failed to renew his contract after recording 11 wins, 8 losses and a 4.34 ERA in 28 games (159 ⅔ innings) in KIA in 2020, has been in Weiquan for three years since 2021. He has played in 30 games 183 innings this year with 13 wins, 7 losses and an ERA of 3.00, ranking first in multiple wins, innings, and strikeouts. He also ranks third in ERA.
Brigham, a pitcher who played for five seasons with the Kiwoom Heroes in the KBO League between 2017 and 2021, with a total of 114 games 669 ⅓ innings with 50 wins and 26 losses and a 3.63 ERA, is also a key contributor to Weikuan’s 2021 re-foundation. He left for Korea when he returned to Kiwoom during the 2021 season, but he played as a main starter for two consecutive seasons until this year after returning to Weiquan last year. Although he had a two-and-a-half-month hiatus due to a fractured instep in early May this year, he played with 10 wins, 6 losses and a 2.51 ERA in 22 games 129 innings. No. 1 ERA.
Brigham pitched well in Game 2 of the Taiwan Series, allowing three hits, one out, and six strikeouts in eight innings, but withdrew without a win or loss, and in Game 5, he collapsed with seven hits one home run in three ⅔ innings, one out, one strikeout, and six runs. However, he had two hits in the ninth inning with a 6-3 lead in Game 7, but struck out two and saved to mark the moment of victory.
There is another player from the KBO League in Weiquan. Wang Wei-jung, the first Taiwanese foreign player in the KBO League and a left-hander with 7 wins, 10 losses and a 4.26 ERA in 25 games 141 ⅔ innings with the NC Dinos in 2018, has also been in Weiquan for three years. Wang Wei-jung, who played in relief in all 45 games 49 ⅔ innings this year, posted a 3.62 ERA with three wins, two losses and one save and 18 holds. In the Taiwan Series, he was sluggish with a 31.50 ERA and seven runs in two innings with one loss in two games.
Meanwhile, right-handed fastball pitcher Xu Luosi won the Taiwan Series MVP. At 23 years and 11 days, he is the second youngest MVP in the history of the Taiwan Series. He pitched hard in four innings, four hits, four strikeouts, and one run, setting the stage for victory, and saved his team from the brink by playing quality pitching in Game 6, when his team was trailing by two wins and three losses, with one hit, no outs, and seven strikeouts in seven innings. He won one game in two games and won the MVP award with one run and a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings.