Mario Gotze started and finished the scoring for the home side with Shinji Kagawa, Robert Lewandowski and Sven Bender also on target.

Alexander Hleb gave the Wolves a bit of hope in the second half when he brought them back to 2-1, but the home side's dominance soon shone through with their fifth win in their past six league matches.

But third-placed Werder Bremen remain level on points with Dortmund after a second-half hat-trick from Claudio Pizarro saw them come from 2-0 down to beat 10-man Cologne 3-2.

Cologne led early through Christian Clemens' third minute strike and it was 2-0 after 45 minutes when Lukas Podolski struck.

Pizarro pulled a goal back in the 49th minute before equalising from the spot on the 54-minute mark when Henrique Sereno was red-carded.

Pizarro then finished off his hat-trick, and won the game, in the 86th minute.

And Borussia Monchengladbach ensured it remains a three-way tie on 23 points as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Hertha Berlin.

Adrian Ramos gave Hertha the lead after 18 minutes but Marcos Reus equalised on 33 minutes before hitting the winner early in the second half.

Bayer Leverkusen are seventh after blowing a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Hamburg, who used the point to climb out of the automatic relegation zone.

Leverkusen appeared to be cruising to victory when Andre Schurrle and Lars Bender put them two up inside 20 minutes, but Hamburg captain Heiko Westermann gave the visitors hope before the interval.

The enterprising Marcell Jansen equalised just before the hour mark and Thorsten Fink's side managed to hold on for their third straight draw since the new coach arrived.

Freiburg joined Hamburg on 10 points as Papiss Demba Cisse's stoppage-time penalty gave them their first away victory of the season by beating Nurnberg 2-1.

Mike Frantz gave Nurnberg the lead after 32 minutes but Jan Rosenthal equalised in the 34th minute and Cisse snatched a dramatic winner at the death.

Hoffenheim and Kaiserslautern shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Rhein-Neckar Arena.

Vedad Ibisevic put the hosts in front after 33 minutes, but Dorge Kouemaha levelled in the 73rd minute.