The opening exchanges of Niko Kovac’s first match in charge of Dortmund were played at a frenetic pace, as Ramy Bensebaini had two chances to put the hosts in front, before the visitors saw a goal ruled out for offside when Jeff Chabot headed home Angelo Stiller’s free-kick.
Jamie Gittens was causing plenty of problems down the left-hand side, and his stinging long-range strike forced Alexander Nubel into a fine save at his near post. Deniz Undav should have punished former Stuttgart skipper Waldemar Anton for a sloppy backpass as he raced one-on-one with Gregor Kobel, but Emre Can recovered brilliantly to intercept the forward.
Then straight down the other end, Nubel was called into action again to keep out Karim Adeyemi's speculative back-heeled attempt from Julian Ryerson's cross to cap off an intriguing first half.
Adeyemi was looking lively down the right flank and flashed an effort just wide at the start of the second half, but Sebastian Hoeneß’ men struck first in fortuitous circumstances.
Jamie Leweling played in Chris Fuhrich down the right, and Anton diverted the latter's delivery past Kobel, presenting a huge gift to his former club.
Chabot doubled Die Roten’s lead just past the hour mark for his first Bundesliga goal with a clinical left-footed strike from Leweling’s perfectly-executed delivery.
Gittens looked the most likely to engineer a comeback for the hosts, and saw his deflected strike superbly parried onto the bar by Nubel. The visitors were resolute in their defensive shape, with Dortmund unable to make much use of extensive spells of possession.
That was until Julian Brandt halved the deficit following a one-two with Pascal Gross at a short corner, and the prospect of a grandstand finish loomed much larger.
But those hopes of a turnaround took a huge hit when Ryerson was shown a second yellow card for dissent late on. Dortmund ended the match empty-handed and succumbed to an eighth league defeat of the season in what was the 13th consecutive game in which they had failed to keep a clean sheet.
They remain languished in 11th, while Stuttgart move up to fourth - at least temporarily - ahead of RB Leipzig's match against St. Pauli on Sunday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jamie Leweling (Stuttgart)
