George Arias hammered three home runs -- racked up four hits all together -- and collected eight RBIs to help lift the Hanshin Tigers over the Hiroshima Carp 10-5 at Muscat Stadium in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture on Thursday.

With Hiroshima up 3-1 in the fourth inning, Arias cracked a go-ahead three-run homer off Carp starter Ryuji Yokoyama (1-3).

Arias connected for an RBI double in the sixth, and smacked a solo blast in the eighth.

He wrapped up his banner night with a three-run dinger in the ninth.

Shinjiro Hiyama and Osamu Hamanaka had two hits each for the Tigers.

Hanshin reliever Takehito Kanazawa (2-0) pitched 2 2/3 hitless innings for the win, and closer Marc Vades worked the final 1 2/3 innings for his sixth save in seven appearances.

Swallows 8, Giants 1
Kevin Hodges threw six strong innings and hit a solo homer -- his second roundtripper of the year -- as Yakult beat Yomiuri with a 14-hit onslaught at Jingu Stadium to return to .500.

Hodges (3-1), who struggled with his control on the mound and walked six, allowed a run and two hits while striking out, but outpitched John Wasdin (0-2), who was lifted after giving up four runs and nine hits.

Wasdin allowed a game-tying homer to Hodges in the third and a go-ahead single to Chihiro Hamana in a three-run fifth.