ATLANTA BOGGS DOWN : BRAVES CAN'T HOLD SIX-RUN LEAD; SERIES TIED NEW YORK 8, ATLANTA 6.

Byline: Jack Curry New York Times

It will be remembered as the most rewarding victory of the season. It will be remembered for the way the New York Yankees miraculously rallied from a 6-0 deficit to beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-6, with Game 4 of the World Series ending in 10 memorable innings. Now it is a three-game series to determine the best team in the sport.

Despite the Yankees rich postseason history, they had never overcome a six-run deficit in a playoff or World Series game. Until now.

On the brink of moving to within one loss of elimination, the Yankees, rallied for three runs in the sixth inning, three more in the eighth - on Jim Leyritz's three-run homer - and two in the 10th to win this 4-hour-17-minute marathon, the longest game in World Series history.

For all the batting bluster in the game, the deciding runs crossed on a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Wade Boggs, then on an error by Braves first baseman Ryan Klesko.

The stunning comeback against the defending-champion Braves evened the four-of-seven World Series at two victories apiece and guaranteed that it would return to Yankee Stadium for at least Game 6 on Saturday night.

Game 5 will be played here tonight, with the Braves' John Smoltz, the Game 1 winning pitcher, opposing the Yankees' Andy Pettitte, the losing pitcher in the opener.

With Yankee runners on first and second and two outs in the 10th, manager Bobby Cox of the Braves opted to walk Bernie Williams, one of the Yankees' stars and hottest hitters in the post-season, to fill the bases and face rookie Andy Fox.

Cox later called it the smart decision, but it backfired as Yankees manager Joe Torre inserted Boggs as a pinch-hitter and Steve Avery walked him on a high 3-2 pitch that scored Tim Raines with the go-ahead run.

``That's probably the biggest walk I've ever had in my 15-year career,'' Boggs said. ``We've been doing this all season. It's not like we just starting inventing comebacks in the playoffs. We've done this before.''

The Yankees added an extra run in a bizarre manner. Charlie Hayes blooped Brad Clontz's pitch to first base, where Klesko lost the popup in the lights. Hayes was the fifth straight Yankee to reach in the 10th after Avery retired the first two batters.

``I just never saw it,'' Klesko said. ``It went into the lights and it never came out.''

Cox said, ``A lot of things went wrong for us.''

Graeme Lloyd, the eventual winning pitcher, had saved the Yankees in the Braves' ninth when he relieved Mariano Rivera and induced Fred McGriff to hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Yankee forced a tie in the eighth when Leyritz - who was using Strawberry's bat - hit his three-run homer off Mark Wohlers to tie the score. It shocked an angry Wohlers and caused most of the 51,881 fans at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium to do a double-take.

It was one of the biggest postseason homers for the Yankees since Leyritz hit one against Seattle's Tim Belcher to win Game 2 of the 1995 division series in 15 innings by a score of 7-5.

``My wife is happy because I played that one so many times during the offseason, so now I got another one to play,'' Leyritz said. ``That was definitely the biggest hit of my career.''

Once Wohlers and his 99-mile-per-hour fastball arrived in the eighth, the Braves figured they were about to secure a 3-1 lead in the Series. But Hayes hit a slow roller along the third-base line that the Braves thought would trickle foul, but it stayed in fair territory for a single. Strawberry then lashed a single into left field to place the potential tying runs at the plate.

Mariano Duncan rapped a possible double-play grounder to shortstop, but Rafael Belliard bobbled it and only managed to get one out at second. Leyritz then tied the game at 6 with his homer.

``When a guy is throwing 100 miles per hour like Wohlers and Jimmy hits it the way he does, that's pretty unbelievable,'' Boggs said.

It was pretty unbelievable to Wohlers.

``Everything that happened after the eighth inning shouldn't have,'' he said. ``The ball should be put on my shoulders. I lost it. I blew it. I have a job to do and I get a heck of a lot of money to shut it down when Bobby gives me the ball. I just didn't do it.''

After Leyritz tied the score and helped the disappointing Kenny Rogers (2 innings, five hits, five earned runs) escape a loss for the third time in three starts during the postseason, the Yankees relied on their dependable bullpen to keep the score tied at 6-6 until Avery said he ``lost the game'' in the 10th.

The Braves looked as if they might win in the 10th when Mark Lemke punched a one-out single off a weary Rivera and then Chipper Jones walked on five pitches. With the scary McGriff batting, Torre summoned the left-hander Lloyd.

The reliever with the bone chip in his left elbow got McGriff to smack into a 6-4-3 double play that ended the threat. Lloyd has not allowed a run in seven appearances in the postseason.

Even in the 10th, the zany game still had some twists and turns. John Wetteland was called upon after Lloyd bagged the first out and he permitted Andruw Jones's single to left field. Jermaine Dye swatted a towering shot to left that looked like it might reach the fence, but Tim Raines corraled it for the second out.

Terry Pendleton hit an even deeper shot to left and Raines drifted to the warning track, circled it and tumbled to the dirt just as he caught the ball for the final out. Or did he catch it? Raines did, holding his glove up high as the umpire signaled the catch and the Yankees streamed out if the dugout. The series is a series again.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Atlanta Braves second baseman Mark Lem ke, left, scrambles the ball after first baseman Ryan Klesko, right, dropped a pop fly in the top of the 10th.

(2--color) New York's Jim Leyritz celebrates after hitting his three-run homer.

(3) New York's Wade Boggs heads happily to first after his walk in the 10th put the Yankees ahead.

Associated Press