If you looked up “most unusual baseball transaction of 2015,” you would undoubtedly see a photograph of Dodgers utility outfielder Chris Heisey. In a nutshell, here’s how it would read:

• Acquired by Dodgers from Reds on December 2, 2014 in exchange for right-hander Matt Magill.
• Began 2015 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City where he hit .163 with no home runs.
• Called up to Dodgers on April 22, going 0 for 3 and sent back to OKC immediately following the game.
• Called back up to Dodgers on May 7, going 1 for 7 (.143) in the four games in which he appeared before being sent back down to OKC.
• Called back up to the Dodgers on June 2 going 3 for 17 (.176) in 12 games.
• Designated for assignment on July 30 to create a roster spot for multiple players acquired at the July 31 trade deadline.
• Released by Dodgers on August 7.
• Signed to a minor league deal by the Blue Jays on August 12 and sent to Triple-A Buffalo where went 9 for 58 (.155) in 17 games.
• Traded back to the Dodgers on September 1 for cash considerations.
• Called back up to the Dodgers on September 6, where he went 4 for 23 (.174).

In his combined 49 at-bats with the Dodgers, Heisey was a paltry 8 for 49 (.163) with 14 walks and 16 strikeouts. In fact, the only reason Dodger fans were glad he was on the team was because he hit a lot of batting practice home runs, thus providing them with countless souvenirs. But even that abruptly tapered off after his latest call-up, leaving fans scratching their heads as to why Dodgers manager Don Mattingly continued to run the 30-year-old Mount Joy, PA native out there day after day when he had far more productive outfielders sitting on his bench.

But suddenly, with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the fifth inning of Thursday’s matinee game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, all of Heisey’s shortcomings – all of the strikeouts, the pop-ups, the fly outs and the ground outs – were immediately forgotten when he launched Dbacks right-hander Andrew Chafin’s 1-1 hanging slider into the seats at Dodger Stadium just past the left field foul pole for a grand slam home run, thereby turning a looming 3-1 Clayton Kershaw-loss into what would end up being a 6-3 Dodgers victory and Kershaw’s 15th win of the season.

“It was nice to finally feel like I contributed,” Heisey told reporters after the game. “I haven’t played well and it’s frustrating, but it’s nice to finally help the team get a win. I haven’t been able to find a consistent rhythm with my swing and my mechanics have been off, but that’s just how it’s gone.”

Heisey will be the first to admit that he’s had a tough year. But through it all, he never lost confidence in himself. Of course a grand slam can do wonders for one’s confidence too.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In his first two at bats – those against Dbacks left-hander Patrick Corbin – Heisey was 0 for 3 with a strikeout. But because of a very long fifth inning in which 10 Dodger batters would come to the plate, he got a good look at Chafin before his at-bat against him.

“I was able to watch those at-bats and I moved up in the box because he was throwing a lot of off-speed pitches and I was hoping to catch one before it broke,” said Heisey. “Fortunately, he left one up and I was able to do exactly what I wanted to do with it.”

Through all of his struggles, through all of the back-and-forth between the major and minor leagues, through being released by the Dodgers and then traded back to them, Heisey held onto the one thing that every major league player must… absolutely must have to be successful at baseball’s highest level – confidence.

“It definitely gives me confidence. I’m a pretty confident guy by nature but when you haven’t had success – especially in a new environment like this on a team that’s a good team – you want to prove that you belong,” Heisey said. “[A hit like that] will definitely give me some confidence going forward. I’ve hit some home runs in my career [but] I hadn’t hit one yet this year. It was kind of nice to get that monkey off my back and hopefully I can hit some more down the stretch for this team.”

Heisey’s slam was the second of his six-year MLB career, with his first coming on September 6, 2014 against the New York Mets while a member of the Cincinnati Reds. It also brought an end to a home run drought of 103 plate appearances for him.

Although Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw picked up the win, he was visibly furious that Mattingly pulled him for a pinch-hitter after only 5 innings of work. The two were caught on camera exchanging words and the exchange was anything but cordial.

“He doesn’t ever want to come out. We just had to try to score, down three runs,” Mattingly said. “It never bothers me. Guys want to be competitive and stay in the game, that never bothers me at all. That’s just part of it. I make that decision, you don’t like it, we can talk about it later … We’re down three runs, we have to try to score.

“He’s emotional. It’s part of his game, it’s part of what he does to get ready to pitch,” Mattingly added. “It’s over for me, I’m sure it’s over for him. I hope he trusts me, I trust him. I don’t get offended by what went on today at all.”

Kershaw was far less forthcoming about the exchange. In fact, he flat out refused to talk about it.

“I’m not going to talk about that at all. If you guys want to talk about the game, I’m more than happy to talk about it,” Kershaw said.

But apparently no didn’t mean no for longtime L.A. Times reporter Bill Plaschke, who persisted, saying that if he didn’t answer questions now about the dugout confrontation, fans would begin to speculate about it. Kershaw responded to Plaschke’s ill-advised attempt to force an answer out of him in no uncertain terms.

“Make it up then, that’s fine,” Kershaw said. “It’s between Donnie and I. No one else needs to know.”

Plaschke had no additional questions.

Kershaw had high praise for his teammates – especially Chris Heisey – for turning a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 lead to give him his 15th win of the season. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although upset with going only five innings, Kershaw was basically Kershaw, allowing three runs on six hits (one a solo home run to Dbacks third baseman Brandon Drury) while walking one and striking out nine. And though the three runs he allowed bumped his ERA up from 2.18 to an unheard of 2.25, he now has 281 strikeouts on the season – most in the MLB by a considerable margin. That said and with only two probable starts remaining (the last of which will probably be a short one), it is unlikely that Kershaw will reach the coveted 300 strike out mark – although with Clayton you just never know.