Aaron Hunt scored a hat trick on Saturday for Werder Bremen to beat VfL Bochum 3-0 and move within three points of Bundesliga leader Schalke.
Schalke, which lost 2-0 to Hamburger SV on Friday, was once seven points clear but hasn't won in its last three games.
The 20-year-old Hunt scored in the 25th, 73rd and 76th minutes as the German league's best attack moved 16 goals clear of its nearest rival after it had struggled to find the net in three defeats last month.
The 41,000 spectators at Bremen's Weserstadion gave their team a standing ovation at halftime.
"We used the chance Schalke gave us -- now everything is wide open again," Hunt said. "I think as a team we played a strong match."
Hunt scored his first by shooting into an open goal on a breakaway. He then netted twice more on passes by Diego.
Schalke leads with 49 points. Bremen has 46, VfB Stuttgart 45 and Bayern Munich 43.
Germany forward Lukas Podolski scored once and assisted in goals by Hasan Salihamidzic and Roy Makaay as Bayern beat Hertha Berlin 3-1 in front of 74,220 spectators at the Olympic Stadium.
"It's a gift from the heavens," Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said of Schalke's loss. "We were just hoping for a Champions League berth, but if Schalke gives us an invitation like this, then why not the title?"
Bayern had entered the game with five straight away losses for the first time in 30 years.
But Salihamidzic scored in the 30th after Podolski's header was blocked and just 56 seconds later Podolski volleyed the ball into the net on the run.
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