With the visitors having kept three clean sheets across their previous four outings, it was perhaps no surprise that the first half offered little in terms of attacking output.
Paul Nebel did send one whipped strike from 25 yards just past the far post for the 05ers, while the first shot on target eventually came shortly before the half-hour mark, when Tim Kleindienst saw a header saved at the other end.
Bo Henriksen’s side then tested Jonas Omlin for the first time, although he was equal to Jonathan Burkhardt’s tame, nodded effort.
The goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent Nebel from opening the scoring shortly before the break, though, as he was left wrong-footed when the winger’s shot from near the penalty spot took a deflection and dribbled over the line.
This was the seventh time the hosts had trailed at half-time this season, and having lost each of the previous half-a-dozen matches, supporters were perhaps not hopeful of a comeback.
Their task became even harder on 48 minutes when Mainz doubled their lead through an unlikely source, as - having had his initial header from Nadiem Amiri’s floated free-kick saved - Dominik Kohr pounced to tap home his first league goal since February 2024.
The visitors were on course for a seventh away win of the Bundesliga campaign, the same number that they accumulated at all venues over the entirety of last season. They could even have added a third, had Omlin not got down low to his left to thwart Nebel.
That just about kept the Foals in the game, and after Robin Hack saw one shot saved and another bobble wide following a last-ditch block, they pulled one back following a clanger by Robin Zentner. The Mainz goalkeeper spilt the ball at the feet of Stefan Lainer, who duly slammed home from close range.
That proved to be only light respite, though, as Mainz duly restored their two-goal cushion minutes later through a superb 20-yard strike by Amiri that swerved away from Olmin and fizzed into the back of the net.
That broke the resistance of Gerardo Seoane’s side, who lost at home for only the third time in 11 league games, whereas the 05ers made it nine matches unbeaten in H2Hs, their best active run against a team currently in the Bundesliga.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Paul Nebel (Mainz)