Gomez hat-trick lifts Munich; Dortmund held by Stuttgart

Mario Gomez got a hat-trick and Arjen Robben scored as well on his return to Bayern Munich's starting 11 in a 5-1 Bundesliga demolition of promoted Kaiserslautern on Saturday.



The Netherlands winger, who made his season debut as a substitute last week coming off a hamstring injury, was on target on the stroke of halftime before Gomez struck in the 47th, 80th and 85th. Thomas Mueller completed the rout while Jan Moravek was on target for the visitors.



Bayern improved to third place and cut the deficit on Borussia Dortmund to 14 points because the leaders had to settle for a 1-1 home draw against lowly VfB Stuttgart.



Dortmund have 47 points for a 13-point advantage over Hanover 96, who have 34. Munich, Mainz 05 and Bayer Leverkusen are on 33 each.



Mainz and Hanover suffered 1-0 home defeats against VfL Wolfsburg and Schalke, respectively. Leverkusen are at bottom club Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.



Munich have all but kissed their title defence chances goodbye but are gunning for second place and direct entry into the Champions League now that the Dutch star is back.



"We are third and our rivals have all lost. So we are heading in the right direction," said Munich coach Louis van Gaal.



Robben said: "It is so much fun to be back on the pitch. But it is not about my return. All players are important."



Robben opened the scoring just before halftime when he rounded goalkeeper Tobias Sippel and slotted into the empty net after being set up nicely by Mueller.



Gomez doubled the lead almost immediately after the restart from short range to complete a move via Robben and Bastian Schweinsteiger.



Munich's back row allowed Kaiserslautern back into the game in the 62nd when Luiz Gustavo and Anatoly Tymoshchuk didn't look good as Jan Moravek made it 2-1.



But Gomez ended all doubts about the outcome when he completed his hat-trick in the final 10 minutes for a season tally of 15 goals, and Mueller wrapped up matters in injury time.



Dortmund were in full command against relegation-threatened Stuttgart but it took until the 43rd minute before teenager Mario Goetze completed a fast move via Mats Hummels, Nuri Sahin and Kevin Grosskreutz.



But the hosts were punished for wasting several big chances when Pavel Pogrebnyak fired the equalizer high into the net with five minutes left for second-from-bottom Stuttgart.



"You can always concede a goal. But we should have scored the first goal earlier and should have had a second, third or fourth. This backfired today," said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp.



Schalke rebounded from 1-0 home defeat against Hamburg last week with victory in Hanover. Spain's Raul Gonzalez beat a defender for Lukas Schmitz's cross and volleyed the 33rd-minute winner as Hanover pressed in vain for the equalizer.



Like Hanover, Mainz were brought down to earth when Wolfsburg got a badly-needed breather from Simon Kjaer's header in the 82nd minute.



In other action, Germany forward Lukas Podolski struck twice as Cologne left the drop zone with a 3-0 victory over troubled Werder Bremen, and SC Freiburg drew 1-1 with Nuremberg. Hamburg defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 on Friday. Hoffenheim host St Pauli in the second Sunday game.