Unsurprisingly, in-form Stuttgart dominated the early proceedings, with Deniz Undav firing their first chance just over from the edge of the box.
Fabio Balde was also off target from a similar position in a rare opportunity for Hamburg, but it was not long after that Stuttgart eventually took the lead.
Jamie Leweling made an instant impact on his return to the starting line-up when he found Angelo Stiller in the area, and the latter shot first-time into the bottom corner.
The Reds had won seven of their previous eight home games when scoring first in the league this season (D1), so there was a rich sense of expectation that they would go on to prevail comfortably.
Hamburg’s best chance of the first half fell to Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer, whose dangerous shot was tipped away by Alexander Nubel.
Unfortunately for the visitors, Stuttgart doubled their advantage shortly after, as Ermedin Demirovic squared to Chris Fuhrich before he produced another neat finish into the bottom corner.
Demirovic then almost put the game to bed before half-time, but after a mazy solo run the ball flew past the wrong side of the post. That would only have contributed to some choice words in the Hamburg dressing room at the break, but it was Stuttgart who still looked more likely to score.
Daniel Heuer Fernandes pulled off two great saves in quick succession, first from Maximilian Mittelstadt from close range, before stopping a powerful strike from Undav from the edge of the box.
The hosts were almost made to pay for not killing the match, when Rayan Philippe headed narrowly over, but they eventually found their third before the hour mark – Fuhrich turned provider this time as he fed Mittelstadt on the edge of the area, and the ball found the bottom corner once again.
Mittelstadt was then denied a quickfire brace with a dangerous free-kick that had to be saved by Fernandes, before Demirovic thought he added gloss to the scoreline with a fine finish that was disallowed for offside.
Undav had an even better chance to stretch his side’s lead further from the penalty spot, but he uncharacteristically blazed over.
Bilal El Khannouss did not make the same mistake though as he added the fourth with the aid of a deflection from just outside of the area after Tiago Tomas found him in space.
Stuttgart were simply too strong on home soil again, having now won six of the last seven head-to-heads at the MHP Arena, losing none.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Chris Fuhrich (Stuttgart)
