Snitches didn’t get stitches, but he did get a new...

The rat may still be roaming the Nationals’ clubhouse.

After the team traded Brandon Kintzler to the Cubs on Tuesday, reportedly believing he was the source of leaks about the club’s inner turmoil, the reliever spent Wednesday clearing his name and got some help while he was at it.

The story in question was a Yahoo Sports report that cited anonymous sources claiming the Nationals’ clubhouse was “a mess.” The Washington Post suggested that the team believed Kintzler was the source, but the report’s author, Jeff Passan, called Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein to say he had never talked to Kintzler.

“Unsolicited, Passan called me this morning to tell me he’s never spoken to or communicated with Brandon Kintzler in his life,” Epstein said Wednesday on ESPN 1000 in Chicago. “So that was clearly a false report, and we knew it was a false report because it wouldn’t be in character with the reputation that Brandon has.”

Kintzler, who said he has always worked hard to be a good teammate, was appreciative of Passan’s call to Epstein.

“That’s cool of that guy, the fact that he wanted to go out there and set it clear for me,” Kintzler said Wednesday after making his Cubs debut. “It affected a lot of people, I’m sure.”

Cubs manager Joe Maddon cited his own sources in backing up Kintzler, who has also pitched for the Brewers and Twins across his nine years in the big leagues.

“I’ve heard the exact opposite from good sources,” Maddon said. “I’ve heard he’s a great teammate, great competitor and his agenda is to win. And if you look at his body of work, he’s not a strikeout guy, obviously, but he throws a lot of ground balls.”

Another Washington Post story published Wednesday afternoon said Kintzler “was too free with clubhouse information and criticism, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the situation.”

Grant Paulsen, a radio host for 106.7 The Fan in Washington, reported that the story the Nationals were upset with Kintzler about was a different Washington Post article on players’ concerns over how manager Dave Martinez was handling the bullpen. Kintzler was not quoted in that story.

The Nationals have won two straight since trading Kintzler, though they’ll have to do more than just beat up on the Mets in order to make a full revival in time for the postseason.