Scherzer steals show — and a base

WASHINGTON — Max Scherzer’s fifth big-league shutout was all well and good, of course. His 10 strikeouts and zero walks Monday were terrific, too.

The most memorable part of the night for the two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner as he led the Nationals past the Braves 2-0 to end the Nationals’ five-game losing streak and get the team back to .500? His first stolen base since high school.

“Finally! I’ve been yelling at Matt Williams, and I’ve been yelling at Dusty Baker, like, ‘Let me go!’ ’’ he said, referring to former Nationals managers.

“There’s obviously situations where I feel like I’m fast enough,” Scherzer said with a grin.

Then, taking a playful jab at former teammate Jayson Werth, Scherzer continued with this punch line: “If J-Dub can steal a base, so can I.”

On the mound, Scherzer (2-1) made a slight tweak with the way he holds the baseball, making his sure his fingers were on top of the ball and not on its side, and didn’t let the Braves push a runner beyond first base. The Braves produced only two singles, by Kurt Suzuki in the second and Nick Markakis in the fifth, and neither advanced.

So even Scherzer managed to get farther than that: He swiped second after singling off reliever Peter Moylan in the seventh.

Howie Kendrick delivered all the offense the Senators needed with a two-run double off Julio Teheran (0-1) in the first inning.

As Scherzer spoke afterward, a base sat to his right on the red carpet near his locker. Manager Dave Martinez presented it to the 33-year-old righty.

“Honestly, I knew he was going to do it,” Martinez said. “We’ve talked about it for a week now. He’s gung-ho. He loves to play the game.”