Yankees square World Series

The New York Yankees staged one of the most stirring comebacks in the history of the sport to level the World Series against the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves were heading for a 3-1 lead in the seven-game series when they took an apparently unassailable 6-0 lead in game four. But the Yankees rallied to record an 8-6, 10-innings win to level the series at 2-2 and leave the defending champions stunned.

"These were two tough games," the Braves' pitcher, Steve Avery, said. Jim Leyritz's three-run homer in the eighth inning levelled the game at 6-6 while Wade Boggs drew the walk that provided the go-ahead run in a victory that ensured the series will return to New York after the fifth game.

"Coming back from six runs down against anybody, let alone the Atlanta Braves, is a huge lift," the New York manager, Joe Torre, said. "We feel pretty good about ourselves right now and we know we're going to New York."

Both Yankee rallies in the eighth and 10th innings used the "little ball'' - advancing runners one base at a time - that Torre says they must rely on against the defending champions.

In the 10th, with two outs, Tim Raines walked and Derek Jeter singled. The Atlanta manager, Bobby Cox, then told Avery to walk Bernie Williams intentionally and load the bases, putting the go-ahead run just 90 feet away from the plate.

Torre then brought on Boggs to pinch-hit for the little-used Andy Fox, who had been inserted in the ninth as a pinch-runner. The veteran Boggs, known for his accurate eye, drew the walk from Avery - after a checked- swing ball 2 on a 1-2 count that drew howls from the crowd.

The St Louis Cardinals may have been exposed to Hepatitis A through eating a meal prepared by an Italian restaurant after the fourth game of the National League Championship Series. But last night none of the Cardinals players said they were not feeling well, according to their media relations director, Brian Bartow.