Borussia Dortmund reclaimed its 11-point lead in the Bundesliga with a 3-0 win at Wolfsburg on Saturday, and Bayern Munich rose to third in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 victory at Werder Bremen.
Lucas Barrios, Nuri Sahin and Mats Hummels scored for Dortmund.
Per Mertesacker scored for Werder in the 47th minute, but his own goal gave Bayern the lead in the 75th after Arjen Robben had equalized 10 minutes earlier.
Miroslav Klose completed the scoring for Bayern in the 86th. Werder goalkeeper Tim Wiese was sent off three minutes later.
Dortmund has 50 points, Leverkusen has 39 and Bayern 36 after 20 games played.
In Saturday's late game, Lewis Holtby's first-half strike earned Mainz a 1-0 local derby win at Kaiserslautern. The 20-year-old Holtby controlled a cut-back from Andreas Ivanschitz with his right foot before volleying with his left past goalkeeper Tobias Sippel in the 23rd minute.
Srdjan Lakic hit the post for Kaiserslautern late in the game.
Mainz is fourth with 36 points, behind Bayern on goal difference. Kaiserslautern remains in 13th place on 22 points.
Barrios got Dortmund off to a flying start. Sahin's wonderful pass beat the offside trap and the 18-year-old Mario Goetze squared to Barrios, who knocked the ball past goalkeeper Diego Benaglio from close range in the second minute.
Sahin slid in to crash the ball in off the underside of the bar for his fifth goal of the season in the 40th, after a shot from Barrios had been blocked.
Hummels scored from close range following a free kick from Sahin in the 71st, compounding the misery for embattled Wolfsburg coach Steve McClaren.
''That was our 10th win away from home, really world class,'' Sahin said. ''We played very well against a strong Wolfsburg side. I like Wolfsburg a lot, but I think they don't like me so much.''
Wolfsburg drops to 12th place with 23 points.
Robben should have given Bayern the lead before the interval, when he was set up by Mario Gomez following a swift counterattack, but his effort was directly at Wiese.
Mertesacker scored after the interval, squeezing the ball through a group of defenders and past goalkeeper Thomas Kraft to nestle inside the far post.
''I think we were more aggressive after going a goal behind,'' Robben said. ''Maybe that's what we needed. We played very well after that and deserved to win at the end.''
Robben equalized when he got ahead of Mikael Silvestre to convert Danijel Pranjic's cross in the 64th.
Gomez caused Mertesacker's own goal in the 75th, sending in a close range cross that deflected off the unfortunate defender's shin.
Klose scored Bayern's third goal with a simple tap-in after being set up by Thomas Mueller.
Wiese was sent off for a rash challenge on Mueller shortly afterward.
Bremen general manager Klaus Allofs suggested Luiz Gustavo clearly handled the ball after Robben's equalizer.
''You need a bit of luck in a game and the correct decisions have to be made,'' Allofs said. ''It's absolutely ridiculous that we didn't get a penalty.''
Defender Isaac Vorsah scored the winner for Hoffenheim at Schalke with a header in the fourth minute, when goalkeeper Manuel Neuer failed to claim the ball from a corner.
Neuer denied Ryan Babel - making his Bundesliga debut after his switch from Liverpool - from adding a second in the 30th.
Charles Takyi scored twice to help St. Pauli to a 3-0 home win over Cologne to help his side climb out of the relegation playoff place, now occupied by Cologne.
He scored after being set up by Gerald Asamoah in the 30th, lifting the ball over goalkeeper Michael Rensing from 23 meters (yards) for his first goal of the season.
Takyi added his second five minutes later, the ball breaking kindly for him following an effort from Asamoah.
Florian Bruns added a penalty in the 76th.
''I'm happy with both my first Bundesliga goals,'' Takyi said. ''Three points and two goals. Simply super.''
Timmy Simons scored for Nuremberg over visiting Hamburger SV in the 60th, when he converted a penalty after goalkeeper Frank Rost had brought down Christian Eigler.
Gojko Kacar was sent off in the 69th, when he was harshly adjudged to have taken down Robert Mak.
Nuremberg scored from the resulting free kick, after Rost deflected the ball onto the crossbar, and Almog Cohen was first to react for his first Bundesliga goal.
