Stuttgart collected just their second victory over the season thanks to two goals by Julian Schieber against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Schieber scored in the 17th and 30th minutes for struggling Stuttgart before Frankfurt's Marco Russ was sent off in the 33rd.
Thomas Hitzlsperger ended all doubt about the result with the visitor's third goal early in the second half.
The victory came at just the right time for Stuttgart, who were lagging in the lower reaches of t! he Bundesliga with just five points from six games.
Markus Babbel's team are now 10th with eight points, just one place and two points behind Frankfurt.
In the early stages Frankfurt goalkeeper Oka Nikolov made two fine saves but blotted his copybook in the 17th minute, failing to punch away a cross from the right which Schieber volleyed into the empty net.
Stuttgart doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark, again through Schieber, who benefited from Russ' poor attempt at a clearance after a cross from the left.
Frankfurt went a man down just three minutes later as Russ was sent off for a foul committed while he was the last defender.
Stuttgart opened the second half with plenty of pressure and made it 3-0 in the 54th minute on a blast from 18 yards by Hitzlsperger, who ran onto a fine volleyed pass from Sami Khedira.
Hitzlsperger nearly matched Schieber's two goals but the German international's 20-yard blast hit the right pos! t with 21 minutes to play.
