■ Daniel Descalso placed on injured list with sprained ankle.

MILWAUKEE — Daniel Descalso hasn’t started a game since June 30 and made only seven plate appearances this month. And he won’t play again anytime soon.

The Cubs on Saturday placed Descalso on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle, retroactive to Wednesday. Left-hander Derek Holland, acquired Friday in a trade with the Giants, took Descalso’s roster spot.

Before Descalso was placed on the IL, Cubs President Theo Epstein expressed his faith in 32-year-old veteran who is batting .104 (8-for-77) since May 6.

“Something a changed a month into the year,” Epstein said Friday night at Miller Park. “He hasn’t been as productive as we hoped. It’s killing him. He’s a great teammate and a really good player. We still hope, we know it’s in there.

“It’s been a hard year for him. But the end of that story has yet to be written. Maybe we need to approach it differently to get a lot more out of him.”

One possible reason behind Descalso’s decline: He suffered a foot injury during a May 4 game against the Cardinals, forcing him to leave in the fourth inning.

“I’ve been watching him in batting practice, and some days the ball comes off hot,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “Other days it doesn’t. It pretty much coincides with injury where he was swinging the bate well then it wasn’t so good.

“I love my conversations with him. He doesn’t complain, doesn’t cry. We knew there was something bothering him. He conceded it’s been more than he wanted to let on. We needed to get this calmed down, get him some at-bats because I know he’s going to help us.”

Descalso was batting .310 (18-for-58) in 19 games through April 24, but his production and eventually his playing time diminished. Epstein hasn’t given up on him, though, based on his nine previous seasons with the Cardinals, Rockies and Diamondbacks.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a lot of big hits in there for him,” Epstein said. “But I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It hasn’t been what we hoped.”

Descalso downplayed speculation that he was changing his swing. Last season he had a .436 slugging percentage and .789 OPS — both career highs — in 349 at-bats with the Diamondbacks.

“I’m just not trying to do that,” Descalso said last week. “I’m trying to get to a good comfortable spot. I just feel I’m out of whack. Just back to basics. Nothing crazy. A couple months ago I was hitting the ball well. I’m trying to get back to there.”