Borussia Dortmund defeated Schalke 2-1 at the Veltins-Arena on Saturday to take a decisive step towards defending their Bundesliga title.
Jefferson Farfan stunned the visitors with a powerful shot, which deflected off Shinji Kagawa, while Lukasz Piszczek levelled for Schalke just before half-time with an equally-stunning strike.
But Sebastian Kehl netted the winner just after the hour mark to seal the win for Dortmund.
A weakened Bayern Munich side could not break the deadlock in a 0-0 draw at home to Mainz, with coach Jupp Heynckes admitting the title is as good as Dortmund's.
With one eye on their midweek Champions League semi-final tie with Real Madrid, Heynckes left Mario Gomez, captain Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribery out of the side as they slipped eight points behind the leaders with three games to play.
Midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk hit the bar and Ivica Olic saw his chip easily saved but it was not until the introduction of Gomez and Ribery in the second half that Bayern almost snatched the win.
Bayer Leverkusen played out an enthralling 3-3 draw that saw 10-man Hertha Berlin let slip a 3-2 lead.
Andre Schurrle and Stefan Kiessling put hosts Bayer ahead, Pierre-Michel Lasogga pegged it back to 2-1 after half-time and despite Levan Kobiashvili's red card on 65 minutes, a quick-fire brace from Tunay Torun saw Berlin 3-2 up.
Kiessling then netted the equaliser for Leverkusen six minutes from time to secure a point.
Heung-Min Son's 12th-minute strike earned Hamburg all three points against Hannover that edged them further from the drop zone.
Rock-bottom Kaiserslautern's woes continued with a 2-0 loss at home to Nurnberg that sealed their relegation fate.
Augsburg moved four points clear of the drop zone with three games to play thanks to a 2-1 win away to Wolfsburg.
Sebastian Langkamp scored the winner three minutes from time that could go a long way to securing their safety this season.