Los Angeles FC continued their hot run of form with a 4-0 thumping of visiting Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

Denis Bouanga tallied a brace and an assist as he and Son Heung-min extended their scoring streaks to three games. LAFC (10-5-3, 33 points) maintained their perfect record since the World Cup break.

Both Kansas City (4-11-2, 14 points) center backs found themselves wanting for pace in the first half. Son opened the scoring just five minutes in when SKC’s Zorhan Bassong inadvertently placed the ball into his path with a heavy tackle in the central midfield. Son beat Wyatt Meyer to the runaway ball and cut it past goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland (one save) with ease.

Bouanga made it 2-0 in the 37th minute off a perfectly weighted ball from Mathieu Choiniere deep in his own third. Bouanga escaped the pursuit of Or Blorian before chipping it over a helpless Cleveland.

SKC were burned once again in transition in added time, with David Martinez on the receiving end of a long switch from Bouanga. Meyer caught up to his man on this occasion, but couldn’t stop him from extending the lead to three with a left-footed shot.

Bouanga nabbed his second goal in the 85th minute from the edge of the box off a slick feed from substitute Tyler Boyd.

SKC striker Dejan Joveljic thought he had extended his own scoring streak when he found the back of the net in the 70th minute but the goal was called off on a clear offside. Zorhan Bassong gave Hugo Lloris his first real test minutes later, forcing the French goalkeeper into a diving save to meet his long-range effort.

Lloris recorded his tenth clean sheet of the season with one save. He has allowed just a single goal in his team’s three matches since returning to play. Los Angeles is undefeated against Kansas City in their last eleven encounters and has won four straight.

–Field Level Media

The Boston Red Sox are trading rookie left-hander Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for infielder Curtis Mead, according to multiple reports on Saturday night.

The Red Sox reportedly are seeking help at shortstop ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline and were looking at Mead’s teammate, All-Star shortstop CJ Abrams. Boston’s Trevor Story, out since May 14, has played only 41 games because of a sports hernia.

Early, 24, hasn’t pitched since June 30, going on the injured list July 1 due to left elbow inflammation. The starting pitcher is expected to return in August.

Boston selected Early in the fifth round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of the University of Virginia.

Early is 7-5 this season with a 3.44 ERA, 34 walks and 93 strikeouts in 91 2/3 innings over 17 starts. He appeared in four games (all starts) last season and went 1-2 with a 2.33 ERA over 19 1/3 innings.

Mead, a 25-year-old native of Australia, is batting .254 with a .352 on-base percentage and .500 slugging percentage after going 0-for-3 with two walks and one run after playing third base in Washington’s 5-3 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. He has 17 home runs and 48 RBIs in 87 games.

Mead, who has played first, second and third base as well as designated hitter this season, is a career .244 hitter with 22 homers and 79 RBIs in 239 games for the Tampa Bay Rays (2023-25), Chicago White Sox (2025) and Nationals (2026).

He signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2018 and was traded to the Rays in November 2019 for left-hander Cristopher Sanchez, who was selected to his second All-Star Game this season.

–Field Level Media

Felipe Mora, playing in what was announced as his final match with host Portland, scored twice in the second half as the Timbers defeated 10-man Real Salt Lake 2-1 on Saturday night.

Goalkeeper James Pantemis made three saves for the Timbers (6-8-3, 21 points), who improved to 2-0-1 under interim head coach Jack Cassidy.

Juan Manuel Sanabria tallied for Salt Lake (8-6-2, 26 points) and Rafael Cabral made five saves.

RSL’s Victor Olatunji put the ball in the net from just inside the top of the penalty area in second-half stoppage time but was ruled offside.

Mora got the equalizer in the 56th minute off a corner kick from Ariel Lassiter on the right wing. Lassiter found Mora at the top of the 6-yard box and his header took one bounce off the turf and into the far upper corner of the net.

Mora scored again in the 67th minute off a left-wing corner from Kristoffer Velde. Mora’s glancing header from the top of the 6-yard box reached the far upper corner of the net.

Timbers general manager Ned Grabavoy announced Friday this would be the final match for Mora, the third-leading goal scorer in franchise history with 48, but didn’t indicate where the native of Chile would be going.

Reports on Saturday indicated Mora, who scored the tying goal in second-half stoppage time in a 2-2 draw with visiting FC Dallas on Wednesday, would head back to Liga MX.

Mora came off for substitute Alexander Aravena in the 72nd minute to a raucous standing ovation from the crowd at Providence Park, with fans chanting his name for a couple of minutes.

RSL opened the scoring in the 18th minute, Sanabria played a nifty give-and-go with Morgan Guilavogui, getting the ball back at the top left of the penalty area. Sanabria dribbled toward the top of the 6-yard box before putting a low toe punch into the far side netting.

Guilavogui was ejected in the 31st minute for a foul on Jimer Fory after both players tumbled to the ground while battling for the ball along the sideline. Guilavogui seemed to kick Fory in the chest as he rolled over and was originally issued a yellow card by referee Elijio Arreguin, but a video review showed he made contact with Fory’s chin and it was upgraded to a red.

–Field Level Media