Germany forward Deniz Undav scored twice and laid on another goal as Stuttgart cruised past hosts Augsburg 5-2 on Sunday to climb to third in the Bundesliga table.
The dominant win took Stuttgart three points clear of fourth-placed RB Leipzig.
Stuttgart's Tiago Tomas, Nikolas Nartey and Ermedin Demirovic joined Undav on the scoresheet while Fabian Rieder and Anton Kade scored for the hosts.
Selected in Julian Nagelsmann's Germany squad on Thursday, Undav's double brought his total to 18 goals in 23 games this league season, equaling his total from 2023-24 with seven matches to play.
Knocked out of the Europa League by Portuguese league leaders Porto on Thursday, Stuttgart snapped into action early and took the lead when Undav hammered in an Angelo Stiller chip with 12 minutes played.
Tomas and Nartey both blasted in from close range inside the space of three minutes to put Stuttgart 3-0 up midway through the opening half.
Augsburg's Rieder pulled one back but Undav knocked in a rebound just a minute later to put the visitors back in control.
Kade scored for the hosts but Undav set up a late goal for Demirovic to round out a complete victory for Sebastian Hoeness' side.
Mainz continued their impressive rise from last spot to mid-table safety with a 2-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Paul Nebel's 89th-minute winner gave Mainz all three points after Frankfurt's Nathaniel Brown had equalised for the visitors in the 20th minute, cancelling out Nebel's early opener.
Stranded in last spot when former Union Berlin coach Urs Fischer took over in December, Mainz have since lost just two of 18 matches in all competitions and sit 11th in the Bundesliga, six points above the relegation play-off spot.
They are through to the quarterfinals of a European competition for the first time where they will face Strasbourg in the Europa Conference League.
Elsewhere, St Pauli threw away an early lead to lose 2-1 at home against Freiburg and sink closer to the drop.
Both Freiburg's goals were scored by Hamburg-born-and-raised Igor Matanovic, who spent 13 years at Pauli, rubbing salt into the home side's wounds.
The defeat left St Pauli in the relegation play-off spot, two points behind Cologne, who fired coach Lukas Kwasniok on Sunday.
Assistant manager Rene Wagner will take over the Billy Goats on an interim basis.