DENVER -- When you look at his physique, it¡¯s easy to assume you know why they call him ¡°Stone¡± Garrett. But the fact of the matter is that there¡¯s a lot more to Gregory Garrett¡¯s middle name than his muscle-bound frame.

¡°My dad¡¯s nickname was ¡®Rock¡¯ in high school,¡± Garrett said after he played a central role in the Nationals¡¯ 7-6 win over the Rockies at Coors Field on Saturday night. ¡°He was a tough kid. He always played with the older kids.¡±

Stone Garrett has been trying to play with the ¡°older kids¡± for nearly a decade, the ¡°older kids¡± being Major Leaguers. An eighth-round selection by the Marlins out of high school in the 2014 MLB Draft, Garrett toiled in the Minors for eight years, never giving up on the dream of reaching the big leagues. He even became a real estate agent at one point while keeping his baseball hopes alive.

He finally got there with the D-backs, for whom he made his MLB debut in 2022. But despite Garrett posting an .848 OPS with four home runs in 84 plate appearances, Arizona -- a club with a surplus of young outfield talent -- designated him for assignment. He signed a Minor League deal with the Nats, and when Corey Dickerson went on the injured list, Garrett wasn¡¯t more than a stone¡¯s throw away from Washington.

On Saturday, Garrett had the game of his life to this point, going 4-for-5 with five RBIs and finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He lined a double to left-center field off Rockies starter Austin Gomber in the first inning, smashed a three-run homer over the right-center-field wall in the third, delivered a two-run single to left in the fifth and doubled again for good measure in the seventh.

What transformed a guy who slashed .243/.280/.371 in 64 games for High-A Jupiter in the Marlins¡¯ organization in 2018 into a slugger who had an .833 OPS with 25 homers in 103 games for Arizona¡¯s Double-A affiliate three years later?

¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I changed anything physically with my swing or anything,¡± Garrett said. ¡°It was more the mental approach at the plate. When I went over to the D-backs, they said they wanted to see me do more damage. I really never had anyone tell me before that, ¡®Hey, you need to see the ball up in the zone and try to hit it far.¡¯¡±

Sometimes, it just clicks. That¡¯s what happened for Garrett, who is capitalizing on his opportunity with Washington. His exploits at the plate gave his club an early 5-0 lead Saturday, and the Nats maintained a five-run lead into the ninth inning, at 7-2. But as they say, no lead is safe at Coors.

Mason Thompson and Kyle Finnegan each pitched a scoreless inning of relief following 5 1/3 strong frames from starter Trevor Williams?and two-thirds of an inning from Hunter Harvey. Williams, who recorded his first win with the Nationals, gave up one run in the fifth and was charged with another in the sixth, when Harvey came on in relief to get the final two outs of the inning.

But Anthony Banda promptly gave up a Ryan McMahon single that was followed by a two-run homer by Mike Moustakas to cut the lead to 7-4 in the ninth. Banda then walked pinch-hitter Elehuris Montero and was replaced by Carl Edwards Jr.

Edwards got the next batter, Alan Trejo, to fly out, but pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar doubled, setting up a second-and-third situation with one out. Another pinch-hitter, Elias D¨ªaz, followed with a two-run single that made it 7-6.

That turned the lineup over for Colorado, but Edwards got Charlie Blackmon to line out to right. Yonathan Daza¡¯s single put the potential winning run on base and set up a showdown of former teammates -- and World Series champions -- that was bound to happen sooner or later.

Kris Bryant, Edwards¡¯ teammate with the Cubs from 2015-19, stepped to the plate as the Rockies¡¯ last hope with the potential tying run at second.

¡°It was great,¡± Edwards said. ¡°Two guys who played together. He¡¯s a good friend. It was exciting. There were a lot of emotions there.¡±

Edwards got Bryant to swing through a 1-2 changeup to end the game and let out a triumphant scream as he walked toward home plate. Amid all the tension and emotion, as well as how suddenly the game nearly flipped, Garrett¡¯s heroics and the five-run lead seemed like another game entirely.

¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that,¡± Edwards said when the notion of saving the game for Garrett was raised. ¡°But I¡¯m glad you brought it up.¡±

As dramatic as the end of Saturday¡¯s contest was, and as locked in as Edwards needed to be in that moment at the expense of all that came before it, this will be remembered as the Stone Garrett Game.

Of course, Garrett hopes there will be more of these in the future. Now that he¡¯s finally playing with the older kids, anything¡¯s possible.