Late goal by Timbers hands Sounders a 5th straight loss

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Brandon Bye scored the go-ahead goal in the 82nd minute and the Portland Timbers handed the rival Seattle Sounders their fifth straight loss with a 2-1 victory Saturday night.

Portland Timbers 2, Seattle Sounders 1: Stats

Kevin Kelsey also scored for the Timbers (7-8-3), who are undefeated in four straight games.

Kalani Kossa-Rienzi scored the lone goal for the injury-depleted Sounders (7-7-3).

The Pacific Northwest rivals went into the match with the series even at 16-16-11 in Major League Soccer play. With the win, the Timbers are now 11-8-4 over the Sounders at Providence Park.

Seattle’s Paul Arriola was subbed out in the opening minutes after what appeared to be a right leg injury, replaced by Kossa-Rienzi.

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Kossa-Rienzi scored in the 27th minute to give the Sounders the early lead. Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis got a hand on it but couldn’t keep the ball out of the net.

Before the end of the first half, Kevin Kelsey scored off a well-placed cross from Kristoffer Velde. Kelsey and teammate Jimer Fory did a coordinated dance to celebrate the equalizer. It was Kelsey’s team-leading ninth goal of the season and Velde’s fifth assist.

The Timbers went ahead on Bye’s blast off a feed from David Da Costa that sailed past Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas.

At the final whistle, defender Finn Surman ran to celebrate with Pantemis while supporters in the crowd held a sign that read “Fish Gutted.”

The Cascadia Cup was created by supporters of the Timbers, Sounder and Vancouver Whitecaps before the teams joined MLS. The trophy goes to the team with the most points in head-to-head matchups at the end of the regular season.

The Timbers and the Sounders have played 126 times since the overall series started in 1975 when the teams were part of the NASL.

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