diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/cluster.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/cluster.go
index 57ea85016154..175b6713ee3f 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/cluster.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/cluster.go
@@ -554,6 +554,20 @@ func execCmdWithBuffer(ctx context.Context, l *logger, args ...string) ([]byte,
 	return out, nil
 }
 
+// execCmdWithStdout executes the given command and returns its stdout
+// output. If the return code is not 0, an error is also returned.
+// l is used to log the command before running it. No output is logged.
+func execCmdWithStdout(ctx context.Context, l *logger, args ...string) ([]byte, error) {
+	l.Printf("> %s\n", strings.Join(args, " "))
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, args[0], args[1:]...)
+
+	out, err := cmd.Output()
+	if err != nil {
+		return out, errors.Wrapf(err, `%s`, strings.Join(args, ` `))
+	}
+	return out, nil
+}
+
 func makeGCEClusterName(name string) string {
 	name = strings.ToLower(name)
 	name = regexp.MustCompile(`[^-a-z0-9]+`).ReplaceAllString(name, "-")
@@ -2283,6 +2297,18 @@ func (c *cluster) RunWithBuffer(
 		append([]string{roachprod, "run", c.makeNodes(node), "--"}, args...)...)
 }
 
+// RunWithStdout runs a command on the specified node, returning the resulting
+// stdout.
+func (c *cluster) RunWithStdout(
+	ctx context.Context, l *logger, node nodeListOption, args ...string,
+) ([]byte, error) {
+	if err := errors.Wrap(ctx.Err(), "cluster.RunWithStdout"); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return execCmdWithStdout(ctx, l,
+		append([]string{roachprod, "run", c.makeNodes(node), "--"}, args...)...)
+}
+
 // pgURL returns the Postgres endpoint for the specified node. It accepts a flag
 // specifying whether the URL should include the node's internal or external IP
 // address. In general, inter-cluster communication and should use internal IPs
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/dump.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/dump.go
index 3c02b6209a61..6ea5ae1f1cd5 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/dump.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/dump.go
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ func runDump(nodes nodeListOption, mainVersion, expected string) versionStep {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, t *test, u *versionUpgradeTest) {
 		// Put the new version of Cockroach onto the node.
 		u.uploadVersion(ctx, t, nodes, mainVersion)
-		raw, err := u.c.RunWithBuffer(ctx, t.logger(), nodes, `./cockroach dump --insecure d`)
+		raw, err := u.c.RunWithStdout(ctx, t.logger(), nodes, `./cockroach dump --insecure d`)
 		if err != nil {
 			t.Fatal(err)
 		}