Call-up gives Sappelt a shot

Dave Sappelt wasn’t on the Des Moines-Chicago shuttle this season. So Saturday’s call-up from Class AAA Iowa gave the outfielder his first shot at big-league action with the Cubs this season.

“It’s been a long year, and I had a lot of things to work out this year, and it took awhile to work them out,” said the 25-year-old Sappelt, whom the Cubs acquired from the Reds in December in the trade that sent Sean Marshall to Cincinnati. “That’s why my arrival has been so long.”

In addition to Sappelt, the Cubs recalled outfielder Tony Campana and infielder Adrian Cardenas. Reliever Miguel Socolovich was at Wrigley Field on Saturday, but he won’t be officially called up until today.

Sappelt had a hitting line of .266/.314/.376 at Iowa with 26 doubles, 4 triples, 7 home runs and 54 RBI. He played in 38 big-league games for the Reds last year.

“It was my hitting, my timing,” he said of his troubles at Iowa. “I was not putting consistent swings on the ball. I went through about 15 batting stances. I was in a mental hole all year. I think I’m out of it now, so they called me up. I think the second half of the year, I showed I still got it.”

None of the call-ups figures to see a lot of starting time.

“Periodically,” said Cubs manager Dale Sveum. “I’ll probably use Sappelt against some lefties. Other than that, no difference than when Cardenas was up before and Campana. The core of the lineup is going to be pretty much the same all the time. It’s not something where I’m going to play these guys a lot or anything like that.

“Like I said before, when we’re playing these teams that are in first place, we’re going to put our core guys out there every day.”

Campana’s back:Tony Campana was all but a forgotten man when the Cubs sent him back to Iowa in early August, when they brought up Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters. Campana went back down and got regular playing time. He struck out as a pinch hitter Saturday in the Cubs#146; 5-2 loss to the Giants. #147;I went down there and I needed to get at-bats and I got to play every day and I got to get at-bats,#148; he said. #147;It was nice to play every day. I#146;ll come off the bench, do my thing, and run around a little bit.#148;This and that:First baseman Anthony Rizzo was 2-for-4, with a single and a double. He is 6-for-14 over his last three games, recording three consecutive multihit games for the first time in his career ... Starting pitcher Justin Germano fell to 2-5 with a 6.30 ERA by giving up 6 hits and 5 runs in 5 innings. It was his third consecutive loss.