Hanshin slugger George Arias went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and Akihiro Yano also rapped out four hits as the Tigers defeated the Hiroshima Carp 7-4 at Hiroshima Stadium on Tuesday to slash their magic number to nine.

News photoHanshin's Yutaka Nakamura eludes the tag of the Carp's Takuya Kimura while stealing second base.

Arias homered in back-to-back at-bats -- his 29th and 30th clouts -- in the second and fourth, connected for an RBI single in the fifth, and doubled home a run in the seventh.