Nolan Arenado celebrated by grateful Rockies fans

DENVER — The Colorado Rockies fans let Nolan Arenado know that they appreciated him.

The El Toro High product was a star for the Rockies for eight seasons before he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 2021 season.

When he was introduced at Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at Coors Field, though, Arenado got one of the loudest ovations. The fans roared for him again when he came to bat in the first inning. He stopped and tipped his cap to the Coors Field crowd.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Arenado said. “That’s one of the best feelings of my career.”

Arenado had already returned to Coors Field with the Cardinals once this season, but this ovation from a packed ballpark was apparently much more meaningful.

His National League teammates, who are normally his opponents, even appreciated it, particularly one of his former NL West rivals.

“That was amazing,” the Dodgers’ Max Muncy said. “You can’t say enough about what Nolan did when he was over here. We’re personally happy that he’s no longer here because he’s not fun to play against. He’s very fun to watch, but it’s not fun to play against because you always feel like he’s gonna do something against you.”

The crowd itself was a subject of appreciation from the players, who had spent the pandemic-shortened 2020 season playing in front of empty ballparks. This season crowds were still limited until recently.

“We kind of took it for granted, fans being in the stadium and the atmosphere they created,” Muncy said. “Last year was a real kick in the gut when it came to everything that we’re used to. to have fans back and have this game happening again, it was incredible. It was awesome.”

The American League has won eight consecutive All-Star Games, the longest such streak for the AL. The National League won 11 in a row from 1972-82. …

Shohei Ohtani became the third consecutive foreign-born pitcher to record the victory in the All-Star Game. Masahiro Tanaka, who is also from Japan, and Edwin Diaz (Puerto Rico) were the last two winning pitchers. …

J.T. Realmuto and Mike Zunino each homered, making this the third All-Star Game in which multiple catchers had homered.