ATLANTA — Nationals ace Max Scherzer has had plenty of great moments as a three-time Cy Young Award winner.

Now he’s delivered one with his bat too.

Scherzer singled as a pinch hitter in the 14th inning and scored the tiebreaking run on Wilmer Difo’s triple, sparking the Nationals to a 5-3 victory over the Braves on Saturday.

“For me to get in a tie game at a time (when) we needed to win against a team that’s playing really good baseball, holy cow,” he said. “I got a hit and scored a run. That’s too cool. I never thought in a million years it would happen.”

In his third big-league pinch-hit appearance, Scherzer singled up the middle against Miguel Socolovich and sped home from first base on Difo’s two-out hit to right-center field. Spencer Kieboom added an RBI single.

Scherzer touched off a dugout celebration after he scored.

“I just screamed,” he said. “I didn’t say any four-letter words. I’m usually pretty good for that, but I kept it pretty PG. That was a good outburst.”

Scherzer started getting ready to hit in the ninth, putting on his spikes, hitting off a tee and taking batting practice indoors. He estimated it’s been “a couple of years” since he scored from first.

“I’m not going to hit the ball out of the ballpark,” Scherzer said. “I’ve got a high school swing, but hey, it’s good enough to get the ball in play and sure enough something happens. With two outs, with the ball in the gap, you’ve got to score.”

Justin Miller struck out five in three innings, facing the minimum, and Sean Doolittle got three straight outs for his 14th save in 15 chances. The Nationals bullpen has allowed two earned runs in its last 33 innings.