Taipei: The CTBC Brothers kept their hopes of a repeat championship alive with a 2-0 win over the Rakuten Monkeys in Game 3 of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) Taiwan Series on Tuesday.

According to Focus Taiwan, the reigning champions seized the shutout victory before a crowd of 37,088 at Taipei Dome, snapping the Monkeys’ five-game postseason winning streak this year. They still trail 1-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Brothers’ starting pitcher Jesºs Vargas was named MVP after tossing 6 2/3 scoreless innings on just 68 pitches. Vargas, 27, joined the Brothers in the second half of the season and did not face the Monkeys during the regular season. He started two of his three appearances and finished with a 3.72 ERA over 19 1/3 innings.

The Brothers’ starting pitcher did a good job locating his pitches on the edges of the strike zone, Monkeys manager Kenji Furukubo said through an interpreter, adding that he regretted all the team’s scoring opportunities were thwarted by the Brothers’ solid defense.

A DAZN commentator attributed much of Vargas’s success to the Monkeys’ unfamiliarity with his pitching. Although the Monkeys made contact often, their swings proved fruitless as they failed to time his pitches effectively.

Vargas found himself in trouble only once, in the bottom of the sixth, when the Monkeys put runners on the corners with one out. He escaped the jam thanks to first baseman Hsu Chi-hung, who caught a sharp line drive by Chen Chen-wei and tagged first base with his glove before the runner could return, completing a double play.

The Monkeys are scheduled to host the Brothers at Rakuten Taoyuan Baseball Stadium on Wednesday, though the game could still be postponed due to the weather.