Jun 30, 2013 4 min read

Shain Stoner isn’t sure he can grow much of a beard, but that didn’t mean he was immune from having gobs of shaving creme on his face following Washington’s wild, 6-5, 10-inning win over the Frontier Greys Sunday at Consol Energy Park.

Stoner also had shaving creme in his ears, eyes and up his nose.

It’s not that he has trouble applying it with a steady hand. Stoner had it applied for him by his teammates, who were celebrating his single in the bottom of the 10th inning that scored catcher Jim Vahalik with the game-winning run.

Stoner’s key hit extended the Wild Things’ winning streak to four straight games, which was important considering the team is heading on a seven-day, six-game road trip.

“The worst part was that it was my idea to get the shaving cream,” said Stoner, who was sure it would be used in the bottom of the ninth inning after the Wild Things tied the game, 5-5, on a clutch, two-out double by A.J. Nunziato that scored Stewart Ijames. But Nunziato was left stranded on third and the game headed to the 10th inning.

The shaving cream was capped for later use.

“I told them to get it for somebody else,” Stoner said. “And they got me.”

That Stoner was even in this position was a testament to the tenacity of the Wild Things. Washington blew a 2-0 lead by allowing four runs through the middle three innings. The Wild Things tied it, 4-4, in the bottom of the seventh when Ijames scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Buccilli.

The Greys retook the lead, 5-4, in the eighth inning when Brock McAlister doubled, was sacrificed to third by J.J. Muse and scored on a groundout to third.

The Barbasol moment Stoner thought was coming in the ninth nearly materialized but only turned out to be a – ahem – close shave.

With two outs, Ijames was hit by a pitch. Nunziato then laced a shot down the left field line that scored Ijames. Nunziato made it to third. Greys’ relief pitcher Bryce Shafer struck out Buccilli to end the inning.

Jhonny Montoya (1-0) had an uneventful 10th inning of relief, allowing a walk sandwiched by three outs.

The fireworks in the bottom of the 10th were punctuated by a disputed balk call on Shafer for not coming to a set position before delivering a pitch to Darian Sandford, who was trying to bunt Vahalik over. The call came after Vahalik had singled to center field, and that allowed him to move to second base with no one out. Sandford tried to bunt him to third but fouled off a bunt attempt with two strikes.

Greys manager Brent Metheny argued the balk call with home plate umpire Ron Arnsperger, then returned to the dugout. Arnsperger then ejected Metheny for continuing to argue the call from the dugout.

“I asked him why he threw me out, and he said because I was arguing from the dugout,” said Metheny. “I didn’t feel it was that bad. It’s not like (Shafer) was trying to deceive anyone. Sometimes, you slide-step to hurry a pitch, but it was just a sacrifice bunt. … That call cost us the game at that point and time, because he wouldn’t have scored from first base on (Stoner’s) hit.”

Mark Samuelson gave the Wild Things a 2-0 in the first inning when he launched his third home run of the season over the right-center field fence.

Ijames made it 3-1 when he cracked his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot, in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ijames has homered in back-to-back games.

“I’m really feeling good at the plate,” he said. “Anything to get the job done.”

Ijames pushed his batting average to .331 by going 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI. He also made a nice catch on a fly ball to the fence in right by Chris Kay. The Greys’ catcher had homered in his previous at-bat to cut Washington’s lead to 3-2 in the fifth.

“I was really about five feet from the fence,” Ijames said. “But I sold it pretty well. I’ve noticed on some Sundays, the ball carries pretty well.”

Balbino Fuenmayor would agree, especially after his solo home run in the fourth.

“This is a big win after (losing three in a row),” said Ijames. “We’re only a couple games back so it was tough to get three losses because of how close the standings are. We got four huge wins, and that will build momentum for the road trip.”