WORLD SERIES Bellhorn's big blast delivers win for Boston

Mark Bellhorn's eighth-inning homer gave the Red Sox an 11-9 victory.
BOSTON (AP) -- Another late October night at Fenway Park, another high fly ball off the foul pole.
Years later, the same result: Home run, Red Sox win.
Mark Bellhorn hit a drive off the foul screen attached to Pesky's Pole in right field, and Boston held on to take the highest-scoring opener in World Series history, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 11-9 Saturday night.
Bellhorn's two-run shot off Julian Tavarez in the eighth inning decided a game in which the Red Sox blew an early five-run lead. And it certainly brought back memories for everyone who watched Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning drive off the left-field pole in 1975 that stunned Cincinnati in Game 6.
All that was missing this time was Bellhorn frantically waving, trying to keep it fair, as Fisk did. No matter, the 100th World Series was off to a wild, crazy start.
Hitting leaders
David Ortiz kept up his October rampage, hitting a three-run drive for Boston's first Series homer at Fenway since Fisk's famous shot in 1975. The ALCS MVP wound up knocking in four runs -- and knocking out a second baseman.
Larry Walker did his best for the Cardinals, and still they lost their seventh straight Series road game. He homered, doubled twice, singled and hit a fly ball that left fielder Manny Ramirez muffed, helping St. Louis make it 9-all in the eighth.
Keith Foulke got five outs for the victory as the Red Sox won their fifth straight postseason game, a surge that started when they came back from a 3-0 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the ALCS.
It was surely not the best baseball ever played, with 13 walks and five errors. Yet it was entertaining the whole way.
Game 2 will be tonight, with Curt Schilling again testing his sewn-together ankle against St. Louis' Matt Morris.
Bellhorn, batting ninth, connected after an error by shortstop Edgar Renteria on Jason Varitek's grounder. Foulke worked around Marlon Anderson's double in the ninth to finish it.
Cardinals' rally
Down 7-2, the Cardinals eventually tied it when Renteria and Walker hit RBI doubles in the sixth.
Right after Ramirez singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh, Ortiz hit a wicked grounder that took a bad hop, clocked drawn-in Tony Womack in the collarbone and sent him to the hospital for X-rays. The RBI single made it 9-7.
Not that the team that led the NL with 53 comebacks wins was worried, especially with the erratic Ramirez out in left field.
Because on consecutive plays in the eighth, Ramirez let St. Louis tie it. Two singles brought Foulke from the bullpen, and Renteria hit a single that Ramirez overran for an error that scored a run.
Walker followed with his fly to left. Ramirez tried to make a sliding catch, but his spikes appeared to catch in the grass. He suddenly popped up and the ball glanced off his glove for another error and the tying run.
The sellout crowd groaned at Ramirez's misplays. Moments later, the fans were delirious were Bellhorn struck.
At the start, the game became a classic NL vs. AL matchup -- bunts against blasts. No surprise, the boppers went ahead because of Ortiz's shot off Woody Williams.
But Tim Wakefield's wildness let the Cardinals rally from the 7-2 deficit. The first knuckleballer to start a Series game since Gene Bearden in 1948, he couldn't control his floater in the blustery conditions and tied a Series record with four walks during a three-run fourth.
ST. LOUISBOSTON
abrhbiabrhbi
Rnteria ss4121Damon cf6121
LWalkr rf5142OCbera ss4211
Pujols 1b3000MRmrz lf5032
Rolen 3b5000DOrtiz dh3124
Edmnd cf4210Millar 1b5110
RSndrs dh3100Mntkw 1b0000
Wmack 2b1100Nixon rf3000
MAndn 2b2010Kapler rf1000
Mtheny c2012Mueller 3b3111
Mrquis pr0100Mrbelli c3110
YMlina c1000Varitek c2100
Tguchi lf3111Bllhorn 2b3322
Cedeno lf2110Reese 2b0000
Totals359116Totals38111311
St. Louis011302020--9
Boston40300022x--11
E--Renteria (1), MRamirez 2 (2), Millar (1), Arroyo (1). DP--Boston 1. LOB--St. Louis 9, Boston 12. 2B--Renteria (1), LWalker 2 (2), MAnderson (1), Damon (1), Millar (1). HR--LWalker (1), DOrtiz (1), Bellhorn (1). S--Womack. SF--Matheny 2.
IPHRERBBSO
St. Louis
WWilliams2 1-387731
Haren3 2-320031
Calero1-312220
King1-310000
Eldred1-300001
Tavarez L,0-1112100
Boston
Wakefield3 2-335552
Arroyo2 1-342204
Timlin1 1-311100
Embree011000
Foulke W,1-01 2-320013
Embree pitched to 1 batter in the 8th. HBP--by Wakefield (Pujols), by WWilliams (OCabrera). PB--Mirabelli. Umpires--Home, Ed Montague; First, Dale Scott; Second, Brian Gorman; Third, Chuck Meriwether; Left, Gerry Davis; Right, Charlie Reliford. T--4:00. A--35,035.