SEOUL-- This was supposed to be the year for the LG Twins, the year in which they would finally win their first South Korean baseball championship since 1994.
But for the second straight postseason, they couldn't get past their Seoul rivals, Doosan Bears.
The Bears hammered the Twins 10-3 to take the best-of-three first round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Sunday.
The Twins' maddening inability to cash in runners in scoring position raised its ugly head in both of their losses in the series.
In dropping the first game 5-1, the Twins batted 1-for-8 with men in scoring position and stranded 10 runners. Their bats woke up for a 9-3 win in Game 2 but went silent again Sunday while leaving 13 runners on base.
They had nine hits but managed only three runs Sunday, the last two of which came on groundouts with the game well out of reach.
The Bears carried a depleted pitching staff into this series, with their top two starters, Ariel Miranda and Walker Lockett, sidelined with injuries. But the Twins couldn't attack the rest of the Bears' pitching corps.
In the regular season, the Twins batted only .251 with runners in scoring position, the second-worst mark in the KBO. And three games in the postseason weren't enough to flip the narrative.
While the Bears didn't have the services of two foreign pitchers, the Twins were missing a foreign bat in their lineup. Slugger Roberto Ramos, he of a franchise-record 38 home runs in 2020, was replaced in June by former major leaguer Justin Bour.
But Bour struggled mightily, batting only .170 with three home runs in 32 games, and spent most of his time in Korea in the minors. He was left off the postseason roster.
Getting next to nothing from the top of the lineup killed the Twins in the series. Leadoff Hong Chang-ki had the KBO's highest on-base percentage in the regular season with .456, but he only reached the base three times in 15 trips to the plate, with two hits and a walk.
No. 2 hitter Seo Geon-chang batted 2-for-8. Kim Hyun-soo, captain and No. 3 hitter who led the Twins with 17 homers and 96 RBIs in the regular season, went just 2-for-14 with no extra-base hits.
Ryu Ji-hyun, a key member of that 1994 championship team, was promoted from bench coach to manager before this season, carrying the hopes of a loyal fan base into what once seemed to be a promising season.
The Twins had the best team ERA during the regular season. Casey Kelly and Andrew Suarez provided an effective one-two punch at the top of the rotation, and the bullpen was stacked with lively arms.
It was the bats that failed the team late in the regular season when the Twins were fighting for first place, and again in the postseason.
Ryu said after Sunday's loss he is solely responsible for another early postseason exit.
"We tried to execute our plans the best we could and didn't get the result we wanted," Ryu said. "I'll have to organize a few thoughts and try to come back better next year."
Asked about the quiet offense, Ryu said, "The season just ended for us, and it's not appropriate for me to discuss specific players or any particular part of our performance."
Source: Yonhap News Agency