A red sea of Cardinals fans inundated Coors Field Tuesday night, pumped up to cheer on heroes Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Paul Goldschmidt.

And, of course, third baseman Nolan Arenado, the former Rockies star.

But the Cardinals faithful were swamped by a Rockies tidal wave that included a season-high 22 hits, highlighted by a Rockies record, 495-foot home run to center by Ryan McMahon in the seventh inning. The Rockies beat the Cardinals 16-5.

Colorado also received a career-high, five-hit night from Randal Grichuk, the former Cardinal, who was awarded the Rockies’ purple victory chain.

“It was a special night, obviously, and having my first five-hit night is incredible,” said Grichuk, whose night included a three-run homer in the third inning. “But also doing it against the team that gave me the opportunity and then eventually traded me.

“So obviously in the first game playing against them was special. You get up for it a little. I mean, they traded you and they didn’t see you in their future, so you want to go out there and play well against them.”

Manager Bud Black is encouraged by Grichuk’s recent power surge that is highlighted by his 15 RBIs in his last 12 games. Grichuk has now hit 11 home runs, with three of them coming in nine games in August.

“It’s in there, and we have talked about the power potential of the lineup all year,”  Black said. “I like the fact that Randa’s using the whole field — base hits all over the diamond — and the power tonight with the homer to straightaway center. It’s in there.”

Colorado’s three-run first inning included an error by Arenado and a three-run homer by C.J. Cron, his 23rd homer of the season. Next came Colorado’s nine-run third inning, when they sent 12 batters to the plate.

The Rockies tacked on two more runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh when McMahon launched his two-run homer off left-hander T.J. McFarland into the second deck above the visitors’ bullpen. McMahon’s 495-foot homer is the longest by a Rockies player in the Statcast era (since 2015), the fourth-longest — ever — in Coors Field history, and is tied for the sixth-longest homer overall in the Statcast era.

“I know I got a hold of it, it was really cool,” McMahon said. “The boys in the dugout were kind of hyped for me. It was a fun experience for me.”

Grichuk was on deck when McMahon unleashed his tape-measure shot.

“I was impressed, obviously,” Grichuk said. “It sounded amazing. Those are the sounds that offensive players live for. I had a front-row seat. His swing is pretty and I’ve loved it from the first time I saw it.”

The Rockies’ hit parade included a three-run homer by C.J. Cron in the first inning and a big night from Brendan Rodgers, who tied his career-high with four hits, all singles. The second baseman is slashing .389/.425/.486 with 16 runs scored in 18 games since the All-Star break.

Colorado’s nine hits in the third were its most in one inning since June 28, 2019, when it punched out nine hits in the fifth inning against the Dodgers at Coors Field.

Colorado rookie right-hander Ryan Feltner, back in the starting rotation because of the injury to Chad Kuhl, blanked the Cardinals for the first four innings, allowing just one hit.

But St. Louis eventually got to him, with Paul DeJong blasting a two-run homer to left in the fifth inning, followed up by a three-run sixth, highlighted by an RBI double by Arenado and a two-run single by Andrew Knizner.

“(Feltner) hung in there,” Black said. “The first three innings were indicative of what we feel he can do in the future. The middle innings got away from him a little bit with (lack of) control. He got behind DeJong, 3-1, and DeJong launched it. But his overall stuff is pretty good.”

The Cardinals arrived in LoDo having won nine of their last 10 games and riding a seven-game winning streak. Starter Miles Mikolas carried a 2.92 ERA into Coors, but after he was torched for 10 runs on 14 hits in a mere 2 2/3 innings, his ERA rose to 3.50.

Mikolas can be forgiven if he never wants to pitch at Coors again. In four games (three starts) at 20th and Blake, Mikolas owns a 13.05 ERA.

Coors Field’s Greatest Hits

The longest home runs in Coors Field history:

1. 504 feet, Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins, 8/6/16 off Chad Bettis
2T. 496 feet, Mike Piazza, Dodgers, 9/26/97 off Darren Holmes
2T. 496 feet, Jesus Sanchez, Marlins, 5/30/22 off Ryan Feltner
4. 495 feet, Ryan McMahon, Rockies, 495 feet off (Cardinals) T.J. McFarland
5. 495 feet, Stanton, Marlins 8/17/12, off Josh Roenicke