A late Paul Verhaegh penalty sent FC Augsburg into the top six on Sunday night, after a Daniel Schwaab dismissal had earlier swung the game firmly in their favour.
Armin Veh and the Reds came into the game planted at the bottom of the table, and targeted a victory at the Mercedes-Benz Arena to take them out of the drop zone. They started the better side, with Martin Harnik and then Daniel Ginczek spurning chances within the opening 10 minutes.
The Swabians continued their assault on Marwin Hitz goal early on, Kostic blazing a shot over before Baumgartl managed to hit the target, only to see his header well saved by Hitz.
It was an encouraging start for the hosts, but a moment of stupidity cost them dearly when Daniel Schwaab went through the back of an opposing player when already on a yellow card, giving Thorsten Kinhöfer no choice but to issue a second yellow.
Despite having the worst defence in the league thus far, the home side battled well for the rest of the first-half, and despite being a man down, gave little space in the final third for the visitors – a long-range Daniel Baier shot on the stroke of half-time the only breakthrough, though that flew handsomely wide.
Sascha Mölders was uninspiring upfront, and his tame effort early in the second half summed up his evening.
It was a valiant response from the Reds defence, who had been pushed back deep into their own half, but were doing well to limit them to long range shots – Klavan and Feulner with efforts that flew off target.
Sascha Mölders then made way for Nikola Đurđić, which seemed to add impetus to the side – Bobadilla and Altintop both going close but failing to beat Ulreich.
The breakthrough came just minutes later, Paul Verhaegh converting a spot-kick for his fourth goal of the season, and just Augsburg’s 15th in 12 games.
It has been their defensive prowess that had kept them climbing the table so far this season, and this was again on show as they limited the 10 men of Stuttgart, and looked to be easily cruising to their sixth win of the season.
The visitors looked more likely to add to the scoreboard late on, Altintop first shooting wide before Cauiby missed a great opportunity in stoppage time.
It was to end 1-0 to the away side though, and in a game they were doing so well in, Armin Veh will be desperately disappointed to have taken no points from it, as they fell to their third straight loss ahead of a tricky trip to in-form Freiburg next Friday.
Augsburg will host another struggling team next weekend, as Hamburger come to town – with Markus Weinzierl’s team dreaming of Europe after their fantastic start.