Late surge helps Bayern batter Augsburg

Augsburg, Germany (SportsNetwork.com) - Bayern Munich scored four goals in the span of 13 minutes to cruise to a comfortable 4-0 victory at Augsburg on Saturday.

The reigning champions were held in check for the opening period, but they managed to regroup at halftime and break the deadlock through Mehdi Benatia in the 58th minute.

The defender's goal opened the floodgates as Arjen Robben doubled the advantage just one minute later.

Robert Lewandowski struck in the 68th minute to put Bayern three goals to the good, while Robben tacked on another three minutes later to complete his brace and finish the rout.

The win lifts Bayern to 39 points, leaving Pep Guardiola's men 10 points clear of second-place Wolfsburg.

Augsburg remains third in the table with 24 points.

Schalke squandered an opportunity to pounce on Augsburg's defeat, suffering a 2-1 home loss to Cologne. A win would have lifted the hosts to third place, but Anthony Ujah and Matthias Lehmann scored for Cologne to leave Schalke in sixth.

Borussia Dortmund's nightmare Bundesliga campaign continued on Saturday as the club suffered a 1-0 defeat to Hertha Berlin. Julian Schieber struck in the 40th minute for the lone goal of the affair, dooming Dortmund to its ninth league loss of the season.

Hannover and Werder Bremen split the points by playing to a thrilling 3-3 draw on Saturday. After Lars Stindl and Zlatko Junuzovic exchanged first-half goals, Hannover took a 3-2 lead after the two sides alternated goals in the span of eight minutes. But Davie Selke struck for Bremen in the 89th minute to clinch a dramatic point, putting the club on 14 points for the season.

Rounding out Saturday's Bundesliga action, Freiburg and Hamburg played to a 0-0 draw while Stuttgart and Mainz shared the spoils with a 1-1 draw.