Portland rout San Jose for fifth straight win; KC beat Nashville

PORTLAND: Jaroslaw Niezgoda scored two goals and the Portland Timbers won their fifth straight match with a 3-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday night.

Felipe Mora also scored for Portland, which is tied with the defending champion Seattle Sounders with 30 points atop the Western Conference. It was Portland’s third shutout in its last four games.

“It’s a team effort, but we’re doing the little things right,” said goalkeeper Steve Clark, who had seven saves. “We’re preaching, details, details, little things.”

After a scoreless first half in rainy conditions, Diego Chara served up a cross to Niezgoda for a header a minute into the second.

Niezgoda scored again in the 52nd minute for his fifth goal of the season and his first two-goal game.

Portland’s Eryk Williamson got his second straight yellow card in the second half and will miss Wednesday’s game against Real Salt Lake.

Vancouver’s Tanner Beason appeared to score in the 71st minute but he was ruled offside after a video review. Shea Salinas’ attempt in the 81st minute went just wide to the right.

Mora, who scored twice in Portland’s 6-3 victory at the LA Galaxy on Wednesday, scored his seventh goal of the season in the 86th minute. Mora has scored in three straight matches.

Chara got the assist, his team-leading sixth of the season.

Elsewhere in Kansas City,  Gerso Fernandes and Erik Hurtado scored and Sporting Kansas City rallied to beat Nashville SC 2-1 on Sunday night.

Hurtado slipped a volley under the cross bar to cap the scoring in the 79th minute. Amadou Dia played a long, arcing ball to Hurtado for the right-footed finish.

Kansas City has won three games in a row.

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, Patrick Mullins scored his first goal of the season and Toronto FC extended its winning streak to five games with a 1-0 win over FC Cincinnati on Sunday.

Mullins scored in the 29th minute when Patrick Laryea drove deep to the right of the goal and passed it back out to Mullins, who had a clear shot on net.

Meanwhile, Jamiro Monteiro and Sergio Santos scored in a nine-minute span and the Philadelphia Union beat the Montreal Impact 2-1 on Sunday.

Monteiro took a well-placed lead pass from Ilsinho on the right side and just beat the keeper on the near post in the 39th minute. Santos -- also set up by Ilsinho -- took a cross and tapped it in a largely untended net.

Amar Sejdic got Montreal on the board at the 65th minute.

Associated Press