By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- The LG Twins opened July sitting in first place in South Korean baseball. They are now in danger of ending the month in third place, having dropped 11 of their 16 games in July, including nine of their past 10.

With a 53-41-0 (wins-losses-ties) record, the 2025 Korean Series champions now trail first-place Samsung Lions (57-35-2) by five games. The KT Wiz (53-36-2) have zipped past the Twins to take second place and lead them by 2 1/2 games.

The Twins will not be able to overtake the top spot in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) before the end of July with only four games remaining but they can still salvage a lost month during their upcoming six-game homestand.

Starting Tuesday, they will host last-place Kiwoom Heroes (35-60-2) for three games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Twins have gone 6-3-0 against the Heroes this year.

For the three-game weekend series, the Twins will face their Jamsil co-tenants, Doosan Bears (48-44-3), against whom they have seven victories in nine meetings so far this year.

The Twins pitchers have been hit hard this month. They have posted the worst ERA in the KBO at 6.24 and their opponents have an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of .828, the highest mark in the league.

In losing two out of three against the Hanwha Eagles over the weekend, the Twins surrendered 33 runs. Their 14-4 loss on Sunday provided an apt microcosm of their July, as they allowed 10 runs in the eighth inning alone -- the first time all year that they gave up that many runs in one frame.

The Twins are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, a 112-game winner in the majors who signed with the KBO club last Wednesday.

The Wiz, the league's hottest team this month who had a franchise record-tying nine-game winning streak snapped Sunday, will face two clubs trying to get into the postseason battle. They will first take on seventh-place NC Dinos (42-47-2) and then the Eagles (45-53-3), who are in sixth place, 2 1/2 games of fifth-ranked Bears.

The Kia Tigers (50-44-2) are in fourth place, not having been able to take advantage of the Twins' recent struggles. They will be on the road this week, with three against the Lions and then three more against the Dinos.

The Tigers are the only opponent against whom the Lions have a losing record this year, at 3-5-0.

The SSG Landers (36-56-4) own the longest active winning streak in the league, as they have won four straight immediately after losing four in a row. They are not out of the woods yet, as they still sit just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Heroes for last place. These two bottom dwellers will square off for a Friday-Sunday series at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, with the Landers hosting the Bears at home in the western city of Incheon before that.

jeeho@yna.co.kr

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