After three minutes, Aubameyang’s movement dragged defenders away for Andre Schurrle to play in Reus and the Germany international coolly finished beyond Jonas Lossl.
Further first-half attacks lacked the same cutting edge, but Lossl saved comfortably from Raphael Guerreiro and was on hand to sweep up a number of dangerous forward passes.
The Mainz goalkeeper was fortunate not to concede again, though, before the break, this time misreading Reus’ teasing ball to Aubameyang and escaping as the division’s top scorer failed to work an angle to shoot into the empty goal.
A corner was Lossl’s only punishment and Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ first-time blast was deflected away before the unmarked Lukasz Piszczek nodded over. But Dortmund seldom looked like paying for this profligacy in the early part of the second half as Mainz created little and Niko Bungert directed a rare header wide. Schurrle volleyed narrowly past the post at the other end and later shot straight at Lossl, but, in a game starved of quality, the key clashes were becoming increasingly physical. Jairo Samperio and Schurrle both went into the book for an off-the-ball confrontation that saw them touch heads, while Mainz threw on the giant figure of Aaron Seydel to offer an aerial threat. However, rather than the big forward, it was Latza who came storming onto Levin Oztunali’s swirling cross and rattled in an equaliser seven minutes from time. And Mainz almost stole all three points as Seydel held the ball up for Pablo De Blasis to drag just wide with the very last kick.
