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(Sports Network) - It's been more than six weeks since Cole Hamels recorded a win. Perhaps a return to his hometown will get the Philadelphia Phillies' young standout back on track.

Hamels takes the mound for the slumping Phillies in tonight's rubber match of a three-game series with the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

The 24-year-old Hamels starred at San Diego's Rancho Bernardo High School before being taken with the Phillies' first-round selection in the 2002 draft. He broke into the majors in 2006 and has amassed a 32-21 overall record since his promotion, which included a stellar 15-5 mark last year in his first full season in the bigs.

Hamels was 9-5 this year after tossing 8 2/3 outstanding innings to defeat Atlanta on July 3, but the talented lefty has gone seven starts without a victory since. He hasn't exactly pitched badly over that stretch, though, having yielded two runs or less in five of those seven outings.

His hard luck continued in Tuesday's start at Los Angeles, where Hamels held the Dodgers to two runs on five hits over seven innings and left the contest with a 3-2 lead. However, Los Angeles scored two late runs against the Phillies' relief corps to keep Hamels' winless run intact.

Hamels is 0-1 in two previous starts at Petco Park, although he's given up just four runs and eight hits over 12 2/3 innings there. Lifetime against the Padres, the 2007 All-Star is 1-1 with a 2.86 earned run average in four starts.

The Phillies haven't done too much winning lately as well, especially on this current west coast road trip. Philadelphia has lost five times in six games during the trek and was dealt an 8-3 defeat by the Padres on Saturday.

San Diego scored five times in the bottom of the fourth inning, highlighted by Brian Giles' three-run double, and received a solid performance from pitcher Chad Reineke in his major league debut.

After being touched for a pair of runs in the top of the first, Reineke limited the Phillies to just one more over his five-inning stint while notching five strikeouts. The 26-year-old had just been called up from Triple- A Portland to replace the injured Chris Young in the rotation.

Kyle Kendrick (10-7) was tagged for six runs and issued five walks over 3 2/3 innings for Philadelphia, which fell to two games behind the first-place New York Mets in the NL East race with the loss.

The Phillies will try for a rebound tonight against Cha Seung Baek, who is seeking to rectify his season-long troubles at Petco Park.

The San Diego right-hander is 0-6 with a 7.04 ERA in eight games (7 starts) on his home mound this season, and opponents are batting .348 against Baek over those appearances. The native Korean's struggles continued Tuesday against Milwaukee, as Baek surrendered five runs and a pair of homers in six innings of his team's 5-2 loss at Petco Park.

Baek, who is 4-7 with a 5.20 ERA over 24 overall games (13 starts) with the Padres and Seattle Mariners this year, has never previously faced Philadelphia.

The Phillies have won seven of the last 11 meetings between these teams, as well as five of their seven most recent games with the Padres in San Diego.