KANSAS CITY -- The theme of the night was offense, and Luis García Jr. was out in front of everybody, leading the hit parade.

In the Nationals¡¯ wild 12-10 victory over the Royals on Friday night, Garc¨ªa found himself in some elite company by going 6-for-6 at the plate with four singles and two doubles. He joined Anthony Rendon (April 30, 2017) and Rondell White (June 11, 1995) as the only players in Nationals/Expos history with six hits in a single game.

? 6+ hits in a 9-inning game

Garc¨ªa, who entered the game batting .262, saw his average jump 26 points to .288. That¡¯s quite a feat for a player who already had 164 at-bats when he arrived at the ballpark.

¡°I¡¯m seeing how the hard work is paying off,¡± said Washington¡¯s second baseman through a translator.

For the left-handed-hitting Garc¨ªa, five of his six hits went to the opposite field.

¡°That says a lot, because my whole approach is to stay up the middle and go the other way as well,¡± Garc¨ªa said.

Garc¨ªa (23 years, 10 days) became the second youngest player to have six hits in a nine-inning game in AL/NL history.

The big night for Garc¨ªa made quite an impression on Nationals manager Dave Martinez, who needed every hit and every run his players could muster after coming into the road trip opener with a taxed bullpen.

¡°The offense woke up, and Luis had a great day,¡± Martinez said. ¡°It¡¯s something he has been working on -- keeping his legs under him and driving the ball the other way.¡±

It looked as though Washington might be able to cruise to a victory after exploding for eight runs in the sixth -- their most in an inning since Sept. 28, 2019 -- to take a 9-2 lead. Garc¨ªa was a big factor in the rally, becoming the first player in Nats history (since 2005) to record two doubles in one inning. But the Royals wouldn¡¯t roll over. They finally got Nationals starter Patrick Corbin out of the game in the seventh and used a pair of homers from Bobby Witt Jr. to fuel a big comeback that brought them within 9-8.

Washington kept its foot on the pedal with three tack-on runs in the eighth, but Kansas City wouldn¡¯t go away. Order was finally restored when Chad Kuhl bailed out the bullpen by getting the final five outs after the Royals drew within 12-10.

Kuhl faced Witt in the eighth and induced an RBI forceout. With the Nats still leading by two, Kuhl fanned MJ Melendez with runners on the corners, then worked a clean ninth inning.

¡°You just have to execute, especially when a guy is hot like [Witt] was,¡± said Kuhl, who earned his first career save. ¡°We just tried to attack with my best stuff.¡±

Corbin wound up going 6 1/3 innings, but relievers Erasmo Ram¨ªrez and Carl Edwards Jr. struggled to hold off the Royals before Kuhl came to the rescue.

¡°It seemed like no lead was safe,¡± Corbin said.

In the end, the Nationals had a little more offense than the Royals -- which meant that Garc¨ªa¡¯s career night was a winning night.