SAN DIEGO_Eric Hosmer finally got under one Saturday night.
Yet Luis Perdomo and the San Diego Padres, again, could not get out of their own way.
The Padres' slumping first baseman hit his first homer in over a month, a high, loud shot that ultimately went for naught in an 11-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs that extended San Diego's skid into the All-Star Break.
They're a season-high 18 games under .500 after losing a fourth straight game Saturday, they've lost 20 of their last 26 games _ although Hunter Renfroe's two-run, pinch-hit homer briefly closed the gap in the seventh _ and they enter the final day of the first half more losses than any other NL team.
Long-term, the future of the organization will be in much better shape if it can rely on its eight-year, $144 million investment as a steady source of production.
Season 1 has been a challenge.
Hosmer entered Saturday slugging .391, down by more than 100 points from last year. His .247 batting average is his lowest since his sophomore season (.232). His groundball rate _ a worm-killing 62.4 percent _ is the highest it has ever been.
That's added up to a .195 slugging percentage since his last home run on June 27.
Hosmer had even been in an 0-for-16 rut when he turned on a meaty 87 mph four-seamer from Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks.
The Padres hope the metrics of the blast, No. 10 on the season, are a sign of things to come: A 406-foot homer via a 103 mph blast on a 30-degree trajectory.
Hosmer was averaging a career-worst minus-1.4-degree launch angle, a trend that played out when he hit into inning-ending double plays in his second and third at-bats.
The 2-0 lead afforded by Hosmer's home run did not last.
Perdomo gave one run back in the second on Ian Happ's leadoff homer, allowed two more in the fourth on Kyle Schwarber's opposite-field blast and was chased in the fifth after yielding Javier Baez's two-run double.
Including Saturday's effort (4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER), Perdomo has allowed 13 runs in 17 innings since his return from Triple-A El Paso, pushing his ERA to 7.55.
Padres manager Andy Green listed the 25-year-old right-hander between Clayton Richard and Tyson Ross as the three starters he'll throw at the Philadelphia Phillies coming out of the All-Star break, but the writing might be on the wall.
Right-hander Jordan Lyles (elbow) threw two innings in a simulated game before Perdomo's Saturday start, is slated for a rehab game during the All-Star break and won't need more than two minor league starts before rejoining the roster.
With left-hander Robbie Erlin following Perdomo with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, Renfroe's pinch-hit homer in the seventh _ his first plate appearance since Wednesday _ cut the Cubs' lead to 5-4.
The one-run deficit didn't last long.
Addison Russell singled in a run one pitch after Franmil Reyes misplayed a foul ball in right. Victor Caratini doubled in two more before right-hander Phil Maton got out of the inning with three runs allowed on three hits and a walk.
Baez added a three-run homer off Phil Hughes in the ninth.
Freddy Galvis doubled in two runs in the last of the ninth.
