MIAMI — Mookie Betts played center field for the American League, a switch from his usual right-field perch, but that hardly affected him in Tuesday night’s 2-1 All-Star Game victory against the National League.

In the fourth inning, with no outs and Nolan Arenado on first, Ryan Zimmerman lofted a fly ball to medium-deep center field. Arenado decided to tag up and break for second, but Betts’ on-the-line throw was in the glove of second baseman Jonathan Schoop’s glove well before Arenado’s sliding foot got to the bag.

“I told the guys, ‘I gotta let ’em know!'” Betts said. “When we play them now for the rest of the year, they gotta know not to run.”

Betts admitted he takes “a lot of pride” in his throwing, “just because I’ve put in so much work. There’s always room to grow in the outfield. I’m still trying to get better, trying to get my arm stronger, trying to get better jumps and whatnot, so I feel like defense is just work, and I feel like I work hard at it.”

Craig Kimbrel, who earned the win despite a shaky ninth inning, took note of the 28 first-time All-Stars and said they deserved all the attention.

“When you have that many new guys in the clubhouse, you’re going to talk about them,” Kimbrel said. “It’s great for the game. A lot of the guys here are the face of baseball and its future. They’ll dominate. There’s no reason not to talk about it.”

Last year there were 34 first-timers. The all-time high came in 2013, with 39.

Among active players, none of the four with the most All-Star selections was in attendance: Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers (11), Ichiro Suzuki of the Marlins (10), Carlos Beltran of the Astros (nine) and Albert Pujols of the Angels (nine).

TELEVISION VIEWERSHIP ticked up slightly from last year’s record low. The game received a 5.5 national rating, 11 share and average audience of 9.28 million on Fox.

Viewership was up 7 percent from last year’s 4-2 AL win in San Diego, which got a 5.4 rating and 10 share on Fox, with an average audience of 8.71 million.

Fox experimented with interviews with Bryce Harper and George Springer while they were playing the outfield, spoke with hitters as they were about to bat and had former All-Star Alex Rodriguez walk onto the field to conduct interviews.