Pedro de la Vega, Stefan Frei lead Sounders to 1-0 victory over Timbers

SEATTLE (AP) — Pedro de la Vega scored early in the first half and Stefan Frei made it stand up as the Seattle Sounders edged the Portland Timbers 1-0 on Saturday night.

The Sounders (13-9-10) had gone 0-2-2 since beating Inter Miami 3-0 on Aug. 31 to win the Leagues Cup for the first time in club history. They beat the Timbers (11-11-11) at home for the first time since 2017.

The Sounders grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute when de la Vega used assists from Alex Roldan and Jesus Ferreira to score his fourth goal in 24 appearances after scoring once as a rookie last season in 16 appearances. Roldán's assist was his fifth of the campaign and Ferreira notched his seventh.

Frei finished with four saves and notched his seventh shutout of the season for the Sounders. It was the 113th clean sheet in 377 career starts for Frei. His first six came in 27 starts for Toronto in 2011. Frei has 10 more shutouts outside of league play for Seattle.

Maxime Crépeau saved two shots for the Timbers, who are 0-2-2 in their last four matches. The two clubs played to a 1-1 draw in Portland in May.

Albert Rusnak was tagged with a red card in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time and will be suspended for next Saturday's home match against Real Salt Lake.

The Sounders travel to play New York City FC to close out the regular season on Oct. 18. The Timbers are idle until they host expansion side and Western Conference-leading San Diego FC on Oct. 18.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer