Bayern Munich maintained its march toward a 23rd Bundesliga title with a 3-0 win at Mainz on Saturday.
Mario Mandzukic scored twice, and Thomas Mueller scored to justify Jupp Heynckes' decision to leave Dutch star Arjen Robben and Germany striker Mario Gomez on the bench.
Mueller opened the scoring with the visitors' first real chance four minutes before the break, when he rounded the goalkeeper and slotted the ball in from the narrowing angle.
Mandzukic made it 2-0 in the 50th minute when he stole in ahead of a defender to meet David Alaba's cross.
The Croatian claimed his league-leading 14th of the season seven minutes later, meeting Philipp Lahm's cross to score with a simple header.
Bayern moved 14 points clear of Bayer Leverkusen after its 16th win of the season. Leverkusen hosts third-placed Borussia Dortmund on Sunday.
Bottom side Greuther Fuerth stunned Schalke when Nikola Djurdjic scored two minutes into injury time for a 2-1 come-from-behind victory that ended the promoted side's 17-game run without a win.
Winter signing Milan Bastos scored on his Schalke debut in the 47th when the former Lyon midfielder struck a powerful long-range effort inside the far post.
But Felix Klaus equalized five minutes later and the home side missed a host of chances with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Benedikt Hoewedes and Raffael all going close.
Schalke will feel further aggrieved as TV replays showed Djurdjic was offside when he headed a rebound over Timo Hildebrand.
Schalke is 22 points behind Bayern's 51, leaving coach Jens Keller under increasing pressure as the club's midseason slump continues.
Fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt was visiting Hamburg later Saturday.
Hoffenheim beat visiting Freiburg 2-1 for its first win under coach Marco Kurz.
Kurz dropped former Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese following a series of high-profile mistakes, replacing him on the last day of the transfer window with loan signing Heurelho Gomes from Tottenham.
Gomes got off to a bad start when Max Kruse scored in the fourth minute. However, Kevin Volland equalized six minutes later and scored what proved to be the winner in the 25th.
Wolfsburg drew 1-1 with Augsburg and Stuttgart lost 3-1 at Fortuna Duesseldorf — the visitors' third defeat in a row.