Baseball: St. Louis 6 San Francisco 4

David Freese and Carlos Beltran each cracked a two-run homer Sunday and St. Louis downed San Francisco 6-4 to open the National League Championship Series. Freese's blast in the second inning put the Cardinals ahead to stay and Beltran's shot in the sixth capped a four-run outburst that iced the contest for St. Louis. Pete Kozma and Jon Jay each added RBI as the defending NL champs grabbed an early lead in the best-of-seven NLCS. The Cards built a 6-0 lead and their bullpen took over after San Francisco posted a four-run fourth against starter Lance Lynn. Edward Mujica (1-0), the third of six Cardinals relievers, claimed the victory with a 1-2-3 seventh and Jason Motte turned in a scoreless ninth for the save. Giants starter Madison Bumgarner (0-1) was tagged for six runs on eight hits over just 3 2/3 innings. Gregor Blanco delivered a two-run triple for San Francisco, which hosts Game 2 Monday.