Giles Barnes and Boniek Garcia scored two goals apiece to lead the Houston Dynamo to a 5-1 victory over Chivas USA on Saturday night.
Barnes recorded his second two-goal game of the season, and Garcia scored his first goals this year to give Houston (12-10-7) back-to-back wins for the first time since July 6 and 13. Will Bruin also scored for Houston.
Eric Avila scored for Chivas (6-16-8), which is winless in 13 straight road games (0-11-2).
The Dynamo recorded their season high in goals to solidify their hold on fourth place in the East two points behind third-place Montreal. Chivas USA was officially eliminated last weekend.
Houston dominated the first half, and Barnes teamed up with Brad Davis on the Dynamo's fifth corner kick of the half. Davis bent a perfect kick to the top of the penalty area, and Barnes jumped above the Chivas defense. Barnes flicked Davis' feed down and into the net past Chivas goalie Dan Kennedy.
Avila leveled the score in the 50th minute when he headed a rebound past Hall. Carlos Alvarez took the first shot, but it bounced off the near post and went right to Avila, who scored easily.
The Dynamo responded four minutes later with Barnes' second of the match. Ricardo Clark fed Barnes, who ran toward the net and drew Kennedy away from the post. Barnes slipped his shot into the net for his eighth goal of the season.
Bruin made it 3-1 in the 63rd minute and Garcia scored in the 80th and 90th minutes - with the second coming on a penalty kick. The Dynamo has never lost to Chivas USA at home, improving to 8-0-2 and outscoring them 21-3 overall.
Houston improved to 11-0-3 when scoring first; Chivas fell to 1-12-2 when allowing the first goal of the game.
