Real Salt Lake started a stretch of three straight road games on the wrong foot, falling to the Portland Timbers 3-0 on Saturday night.
RSL fell to 12-4-7 with the loss and saw its 10-game road unbeaten streak end, but got some help to remain in a tie for first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference. LAFC lost 5-1 to Columbus, and the LA Galaxy lost 2-0 to Dallas, leaving the two Los Angeles teams tied with Real Salt Lake.
Portland’s Felipe Mora scored in the third minute with an assist from Santiago Moreno. Moreno made a pass from the right side of the field to the middle of the box, and Mora tapped the ball in for his 11th goal of the season.
The Timbers (11-8-6) scored their second goal after a wild sequence early in the second half. Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath made a diving save on a header by Jonathan Rodriguez, and the rebound was passed back and forth in front of the goal before Moreno scored with an assist from midfielder Evander.
Portland scored its third goal in the 90th minute, when forward Antony made a long run up the right side of the field and passed the ball to Evander at the top of the box. Evander put the ball past MacMath to make it 3-0.
Portland goalkeeper James Pantemis made three saves to earn the shutout.
RSL’s MacMath had four saves.
Before Saturday night’s loss, RSL had won two straight games since getting beaten by the LA Galaxy on June 22. The loss to the Galaxy snapped RSL’s club-record 15-game MLS unbeaten streak.
RSL is set to visit LAFC on Wednesday (8:45 p.m. MDT, Apple TV, FS1), and Colorado next Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).