A Shinji Okazaki double and Yunus Malli's late header were enough to secure a vital three points for Mainz on the road, though they had to work-hard to endure a late Freiburg fight-back.
Freiburg earned an impressive draw against Schalke last weekend and was evidence of their impressive upturn in form. Christian Streich has made very few changes between games this season and he made only one this weekend. Jonathan Schmid came in for Felix Klaus in the only alteration.
Despite going three-nil down to Bayer Leverkusen last weekend, Martin Schmidt's men certainly didn't lose hope and hit back twice late on to make it a nervy 2-3 win for the Rhein side. Schmidt was clearly impressed by the turnaround and made just two changes, replacing Pablo de Blasis and Stefan Bell with Jairo and Nikolce Noveski.
Mainz began brightly and Johannes Geis had a few early sighters on goal, but it was the hosts who had the first meaningful opportunity. Admir Mehmedi's low drive was brilliantly tipped over by Loris Karius, while Julian Schuster also went close.
Freiburg maintained their high level of pressure and Christian Günter's twenty-five yard effort went screaming towards the goal, only to rattle the bar with Karius beaten. Jonathan Schmid tried his luck next and went equally close, though the ball flashed just past the face of goal.
The home side were desperately unlucky in the opening half-hour; the bar and an inspired goalkeeper were preventing them from taking a deserved lead, with any Mainz forays into the opposition half rare at at best. As is the way with football, the one meaningful attempt from Mainz was clinical.
Some determined running down the right from Jairo allowed him to fire a tempting cross into the box. Yunus Malli couldn't make contact with it, but Shinji Okazaki came racing in at the back post to hit it home. Roman Bürki would have felt hard done by not to have kept it out, the sprawling stopper managed to get his legs on it although the ball squirmed over the line.
As if that wasn't bad enough for the home faithful, Mainz scored a in first-half stoppage time. A corner wasn't clear and pinball ensued, Okazaki was on hand to divert the ball over the line at the crucial moment and notched up his twelfth goal of the Bundesliga season. Definitely not the nicest goals that'll be scored by the Japanese hitman, but just as important nevertheless.
Freiburg weren't giving up and came out fighting after the break. They continued to pepper the Mainz goal and Schuster went close once more, but his effort was deflected just wide. Karius was called into action once more and he did well to deflect Mehmedi's effort away from his net.
Both sides were finding it much harder to create chances in the second period and when Maximilian Philipp guided the ball home, it looked like Freiburg had found a way back into the game. However, he was flagged for offside and Mainz could breathe a sigh of relief.
The hosts kept pushing and went close through Nils Petersen, who squeezed a shot just wide of the post. Freiburg finally got a goal with ten minutes to go and it was a spectacular strike. He cut in from the left and unleashed a screaming effort from twenty yards, finding the top corner and restoring hope.
That was short lived to the extreme and Mainz went straight up the other end to restore their two-goal cushion and seal the win. A fantastic cross from Daniel Brosinski picked out Malli, who flicked a header past Bürki and wheeled away to celebrate with his team-mates. Freiburg grabbed one last goal through Schmid, but it was too late and Mainz held on for the three points.
The result should see Mainz safe for another season, who take on Schalke 04 next weekend. Freiburg still have work to do and will feel hard done by, but could put daylight between the dropzone and themselves against VfB Stuttgart next Saturday.